HOLLIDAYSBURG - Test results yielded no evidence to justify seeking the death penalty in prosecuting a Hollidaysburg-area man accused of killing a Penn State Altoona student in March and hiding her body in the trunk of her car.
Blair County District Attorney Richard Consiglio said Friday that he has a strong first-degree murder case against Sean Louis Allen, 19, but no evidence of aggravating circumstances to pursue the death penalty.
"We got the test results back, and they just don't establish anything that meets the criteria," Consiglio said.
To seek the death penalty in Pennsylvania, prosecutors must prove an aggravating circumstance, such as a felony which occurred at the time of the murder.
Allen is accused of killing Margo "Maggie" Davis, 20, of Edison Avenue, Altoona. Police investigators believe she was killed in Allen's apartment on Lower Brush Mountain Road, where she allegedly had gone to buy a small amount of marijuana from Allen, a man she knew from high school.
After Davis was reported missing, her body was found in the trunk of her vehicle that Logan Township police impounded after it was identified at a townhouse complex.
Allen, who remains in Blair County Prison, entered a not guilty plea in May before Judge Hiram Carpenter.
Deputy District Attorney Wade Kagarise said evidence collected in the case remained under review at that time at the Pennsylvania State Police Crime Laboratory in Greensburg and asked for a delay in announcing his intentions regarding the death penalty.
Consiglio said he will pursue a first-degree murder conviction, which carries a mandatory life in prison penalty.
"That's the best I can do," Consiglio said. "Some people say life in prison is worse than the death penalty."
Neither of Allen's attorneys, Steve Passarello and Tom Hooper, were available for comment Friday afternoon.
They said in May that they were preparing Allen's defense as if it would be a death penalty case.
Consiglio said the case has pre-trial motions pending. He estimated that the case could be ready for trial as early as the end of the year.
