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Burlington County woman makes plea deal in patrolman husband's killing

Marie Hess, in a previous appearance in 2001, pleaded guilty Thursday.

By Jan Hefler and INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Posted: June 08, 2012

Nearly a year after the state Supreme Court overturned her 30-year sentence for aggravated manslaughter, Marie Hess pleaded guilty Thursday to killing her husband. She faces up to 27 years in prison, but is hoping for less.

Hess, 47, admitted she fatally shot her sleeping husband, Burlington Township Patrolman Jimmy Hess, in their township home on Aug. 19, 1999. Under the plea agreement, she would not be paroled until she serves 85 percent of her new sentence, but would get credit for the 13 years she has spent in prison.

But when she is sentenced by state Superior Court Judge Jeanne T. Covert in Mount Holly, her lawyer this time will be permitted to argue for leniency because of evidence that her 35-year-old husband had abused her and that a psychiatrist diagnosed her with battered wife syndrome.

The Supreme Court ruled in July that Marie Hess' rights were violated at her previous sentencing because her plea bargain barred her then-lawyer, Marc Neff, from mentioning any reasons why leniency might be appropriate. The high court also said that a 17-minute video played in court by the victim's family had the potential "to unduly arouse or inflame emotions" instead of helping the judge understand the family's loss.

Marie Hess' new attorney, Deputy Public Defender Kevin Walker, said he would ask the judge to consider a lighter sentence. He declined to say what he will recommend. Hess was working as a toll taker at the Burlington-Bristol Bridge at the time of the shooting.

Assistant County Prosecutor Mark Westfall is expected to argue for the maximum 27-year sentence.

The high court had let the Prosecutor's Office decide whether to simply ask for a resentencing hearing or reopen the 13-year-old case and try Hess for murder. The prosecutor and defense spent months negotiating the plea with the realization that it would have been difficult to resurrect such an old case.

Hess admitted during a brief hearing before Covert on Thursday that she and her husband had argued before he fell asleep in their bedroom and that she later shot him.

She pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated manslaughter. Sentencing is set for 9 a.m. July 26.

Contact Jan Hefler at 856-779-3224, jhefler@phillynews.com or follow her on Twitter @JanHefler. Read her blog on philly.com/BurlcoBuzz.