Jun 5, 2008 10:30 pm US/Eastern
Man Found Guilty In Honors Student Death
PHILADELPHIA (AP) ―
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Mark O'Donnell was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder and sexual assault in the slaying of his girlfriend's teen daughter.
CBS
A Montgomery County man was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder and sexual assault and sentenced to life in prison in the slaying of his girlfriend's teen daughter.
Mark O'Donnell, 48, spent the hours before the December murder smoking crack with the mother of victim Ebony Dorsey, authorities said.
He returned home to his Plymouth Meeting apartment, where the 14-year-old honor student was baby-sitting his 4-year-old child. After viewing pornography, he sodomized and strangled Dorsey, Assistant District Attorney Kevin Steele said.
"The pathologist said it took around six minutes (for her to die)," Steele said.
Defense attorney Thomas Egan argued at the judge-only trial that O'Donnell was too intoxicated to form the intent required for first-degree murder. However, Judge William J. Furber sided with prosecutors after weighing five days of evidence and more than 100 exhibits.
"It's a tragic, tragic thing," said Steele, who had sought the death penalty on the grounds that the murder occurred in the commission of another crime, the sexual assault.
O'Donnell had told police that he lost his temper and strangled the girl. He then put her body in a plastic container and hid it for several days.
The girl's mother, Danielle Cattie, 34, pleaded guilty in May to drug and child endangerment charges. She is scheduled to be sentenced in October.
"She's going to have to face time for her crimes ... and the loss (of her daughter)," Steele said. "She's going to deal with this for the rest of her life, that's for sure."
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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