PITTSBURGH—A Pennsylvania judge on Friday upheld a controversial plea deal for David Sumney—a man who murdered his mother and then took a slew of selfies and pictures with her body—despite outrage from virtually everyone in their family.
In a packed room on the fifth floor of Allegheny County County Court, Judge Edward Borkowski certified an August plea for Sumney, who copped to a third-degree murder charge for the savage 2019 slaying of his mother Margaret. During the very brief hearing, six of Sumney’s family members sat in a long row as Borkowski explained how he was not going to grant their wish to reject the plea, stating that sometimes “cases are resolved on a regular basis against the wish of family members… and sometimes even victims.”
As Borkowski gave his ruling, several of Sumney’s family members began shaking their heads, aghast that they lost their last battle for a full-scale prosecution. The original charges in the case included first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, theft, and robbery.
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“This is just wrong,” Ann Shade, one of Margaret’s three sisters in attendance, told The Daily Beast at the end of the row after the hearing was dismissed. “I just can’t believe this. Nobody is listening to us.”
Several seats down, Sumney’s ex-girlfriend—who is at the center of a separate Atlantic City criminal case where he is accused of several charges after she says he waterboarded and strangled her in a hotel room in July 2019—shook her head violently. Sumney walked out of the courtroom without looking at his family, firmly holding a brown folder with papers close to his red jumpsuit-clad chest. The folder simply stated the words “Sumney” in black sharpie.
“A ton of bricks just went on my shoulders,” the ex-girlfriend, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Daily Beast after the hearing. “I almost puked when he said he was keeping the plea.”
The hearing marks the latest blow for the Sumney family, who have been fighting for justice for Margaret since her murder—and especially since Sumney was arrested on Sept. 4, 2019, outside of his uncle’s funeral.
Sumney’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and he faces as many as 40 years on the third-degree murder charge. But according to one family member, prosecutors previously floated a 15-year sentence in this case. Prosecutors have not yet issued a formal sentencing request, but if convicted of the original charges, Sumney would have faced life behind bars.
The ex-girlfriend said the plea also made her feel a renewed sense of pressure for her New Jersey case, which is still pending. She previously told The Daily Beast that after meeting Sumney online in August 2018, she agreed to go on a beach vacation with him the following July to see if the relationship was going to work out.
“The first time he physically hit me was in the hotel room,” the ex-girlfriend said, adding that days later, Sumney choked her until she passed out, punched her, and tortured her in the bathroom. She said she eventually escaped after a bellhop knocked on their hotel room door.
“After today’s hearing, my case is now our only real shot,” she said outside the courtroom on Friday, rubbing her arms for comfort. Sumney has yet to enter a plea on those charges, and it was not clear if he had an attorney on the case.
About a year later, prosecutors alleged in a complaint that Sumney murdered his mother and shoved her body inside a bathtub sometime around Sept. 1, 2019. Then he took it one step further: documenting the horrific scene in 277 photos that included his mother’s unconscious body, swollen face, and several selfies with blood on his face.
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that Margaret suffered lacerations on her face, contusions on her body, multiple fractured ribs, and a spinal fracture.
Upon his arrest, police discovered that Sumney had a silver bracelet, a diamond gold necklace, three blank checks in his mother’s name, and her debit card.
Later, police would also learn that Sumney had checked into a nearby hotel after murdering his mother—and had already paid for three nights. The complaint notes that on the second day of his stay, Sumney stopped a hotel manager in the lobby and gave her a set of pearls before saying, “from a special lady to a special lady.”
Inside the hotel room, investigators found more of Margaret’s belongings and discovered hundreds of photographs Sumney had taken of the crime scene on his cellphone.
Prosecutors also previously revealed in a court hearing that Sumney searched online for how to handle his mom’s remains. Among the searches: “How long does it take before a body starts to decompose?” and “How long do you wait to dispose of a body?”
One of Margaret’s nieces, Margot, was one of the first people to enter the blood-soaked house after Sumney’s arrest. The Olde Orchard Drive home showed signs of a struggle—and came with a stench of cleaning products and blood.
“There were three rotisserie chickens ripped apart in the sink and a gallon of ice cream melted beside it. There were bottles of alcohol and just shit everywhere,” Margot told The Daily Beast on Friday after the hearing. “You could just smell blood. I’ll never forget that smell.”
But just three months after Sumney’s arrest, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office suggested a plea deal to the family—which they immediately rejected. Still, three years later, Sumney was able to plead guilty this past August to third-degree murder in connection with Margaret’s murder.
The deal was finalized on Aug. 19, 2021, despite fury from most of his family. That same deal was upheld on Friday.
“I’m in shock,” Ellen, who is David’s half-sister and the daughter of their murdered mom, told The Daily Beast on Friday. As the only family member who was able to speak in court, Ellen reiterated to the judge that only one member of her family was in favor of the deal—but that a row of other relatives behind her wanted Sumney to go to trial.
Sumney sat just two feet behind Ellen as she briefly spoke to Borkowski—staring straight ahead as his half-sister explained the majority of her family’s wishes.
“I was in shock when they moved me toward the microphone so close to him,” Ellen later told The Daily Beast. “I don’t know if I said it out loud but all I was thinking was, ‘That’s too close’!”
Assistant District Attorney Michael Pradines defended his decision at the hearing. After listing all the times he spoke with the family, he insisted that a review of the evidence and consultation with colleagues and mental health providers ultimately led him to conclude he should strike the deal.
“As the Court is aware, there are several issues in the case that impacted the proposed conclusion, including but not limited to the following: admissibility of certain evidence from the defendant’s iPhone, the documented mental health history of the defendant, the prior involuntary commitments of the defendant to Torrence State Psychiatric Hospital, an expected mental infirmity and intoxication defense, a lack of motive, the photographing by the defendant of his deceased mother, and probable jury instruction on diminished capacity,” Pradines told the judge.
Still, the family’s case for a tougher prosecution amounted to a full-court press.
The Daily Beast obtained two letters that were given to Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge Edward Borkowski prior to the Friday hearing—one from Ellen’s daughter and the other from her father.
In her letter, the daughter expresses anger about the August plea deal, claiming that her uncle “is a sick and dangerous person that should never be put back into society.” She not only said she had lost faith in the judicial system but noted the trauma she developed from the incident, which included hearing her mother “let out the most painful scream” when she heard the news.
“About a month before David killed my grandmother, he told me if he ever moved back in with her, he would hurt her,” Ellen’s daughter added. “If he could kill the people who gave him life, anyone is subject to be one of his victims.”
Ellen’s father also wrote in a letter submitted to the judge that he has always believed the case against Sumney was a “slam dunk” and was “dumbfounded and dismayed the District Attorney fought so hard to offer a plea to this killer… this mother killer!”
Her father, who is not David Sumney’s father, also brought up the pending case in Atlantic City and stressed that Sumney was “methodical with his cruelty.”
