Girls' killer gets death
Jason...@virgin.net
Girls' killer gets death
Verdict in '82 case in less than 10 minutes
Tuesday, March 02, 1999
By John M.R. Bull, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
The jury needed less than 10 minutes
yesterday to convict Anthony J.
Fiebiger of the first-degree murder for the
1982 killing of a 16-year-old girl.
Sentencing him to death took a bit
longer, three hours.
Fiebiger, a diagnosed sociopath,
didn't even blink when the jury last
night decided to make him the newest
inmate on death row.
"She died a horrible death. She died
as a result of a heinous and atrocious
act perpetrated by the defendant,"
prosecutor Daniel Fitzsimmons told
the jury. "She was subjected to
unbelievable suffering."
It took three to five minutes of
strangulation for Marcia Jones to die in a
Mount Washington park as she pleaded for her
life, Fitzsimmons said. Before
she was strangled, she was kicked, beaten,
raped, violated with a stick and
perhaps a beer bottle, he added.
Then Fiebiger left, returned with a knife and
stabbed her five times in the neck
to make sure she would die and be unable to
testify against him. All in all, she
was tortured, Fitzsimmons said.
The jury in Judge David S. Cercone's
courtroom required less than 10
minutes to convict Fiebiger of first-degree
murder, which carries a mandatory
sentence of life in prison without parole.
It was one of the fastest verdicts reached by
an Allegheny County jury in
memory, veteran court personnel said.
Because Fitzsimmons sought the death penalty,
another hearing was held
yesterday to present evidence to help the
jury decide whether Fiebiger should
live or die for his crime.
Deliberations in that phase took three hours
before the verdict was reached.
Fiebiger's attorney argued that Fiebiger
should be spared death because he
came forward and confessed, allowing the
Jones family to find closure.
"He will die in jail," attorney William
Difenderfer said in his closing statement.
"The question is when will he die in jail.
The other question is who will kill him
in jail, you or God? He's a human being. It's
incredible what he did, but he's
not an animal. Human life is precious."
On May 22, 1982, Fiebiger, 35, of Brookline,
and Joseph Morton, 36, of
Lincoln Place, decided they were going to
rape someone, anyone, and went
out looking for a victim, Fiebiger said in a
confession to police.
They encountered Jones on a Mount Washington
street and lured her into
Grandview Park with an offer to share some
marijuana. In the park, they beat
the girl, raped her, strangled her with her
belt and left her propped against a
tree.
They came back a few minutes later with a
butcher knife and stabbed her
repeatedly in the neck and face, before
digging a shallow grave and covering
her body with leaves and sticks.
Morton is to go on trial in May for the
killing.
A psychologist testified during the death
penalty hearing yesterday that
Fiebiger is a sociopath who has abused drugs
and alcohol for so many years
that he became paranoid and delusional.
For example, Fiebiger thought his cat was
wired with electronic listening
equipment and was spying on him, and he also
believed a dentist had given
him a post-hypnotic suggestion of some sort
after root canal surgery, testified
Dr. Herbert I. Levit.
"He thought his car alarm was talking to
him," Levit added.
Levit said Fiebiger confessed because of
remorse.
Fiebiger's girlfriend of the last five years,
Mary Ann Wingard, testified
Fiebiger had been growing increasingly
"weird" before police found him
ranting on a city street last year.
Fiebiger had been abusing heroin, marijuana,
painkillers and alcohol, and had
become depressed, unable to sleep or eat and
would cry for hours, she
testified.
He was so full of remorse for Jones' death
that he kept saying "I have to tell
the truth. I have to let the family know what
happened," Wingard testified.
But city homicide detectives testified
Fiebiger wasn't remorseful at all when he
confessed.
And doctors at Mayview State Hospital, where
Fiebiger was taken after he
confessed, said he was "annoyed" he had
confessed and wasn't sure why he
did it, Fitzsimmons pointed out to the jury.
While in Mayview for several months of
evaluation, Fiebiger assaulted other
patients and threatened to kill them, saying
he has nothing to lose, which
showed how dangerous he remains, Fitzsimmons
told the jury.
Fiebiger is a sociopath who would be a danger
to prison guards and other
inmates if allowed to live, Fitzsimmons said.
In his confession, Fiebiger told detectives
he has fantasized about killing
people almost all his life, especially women
and children.
Fiebiger is also charged with another
killing, that of his former live-in girlfriend,
Norma Parker, 53, of Clairton.
He confessed to police he strangled her in
1989 because she woke him up,
then buried her body in a shallow grave in
Mingo Creek County Park in
Washington County.
A trial date in that case has not been set.
Fitzsimmons is seeking another
death penalty in that case.