Judge denies death-penalty appeal by athlete’s killer

By Mari A. Schaefer, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Posted: September 05, 2012

A Delaware County Court judge denied the latest death-penalty appeal from Arthur J. Bomar, who was convicted of killing college athlete Aimee Willard in 1996, the district attorney announced Tuesday.

Judge Frank T. Hazel issued a 213-page opinion addressing 22 claims by Bomar in his appeal, making any future appeals on the same grounds more difficult.

The case has already been appealed to the state Supreme Court.

District Attorney Jack Whelan on Tuesday called Bomar "every parent's worst nightmare."

About 1:30 a.m. June 20, 1996, Willard was on I-476 driving home to Brookhaven from a Main Line bar when Bomar bumped her car from behind. The 22-year-old George Mason University lacrosse star pulled over on the southbound Springfield-Lima exit off-ramp. Bomar raped her, then beat her to death and dumped her body in a vacant lot in North Philadelphia.

Her car was found still running on the off-ramp. A tree planted by friends marks the location of the crime.

Bomar was on parole for a 1978 murder in Nevada when he murdered Willard.

Bomar, who is incarcerated at SCI-Greene in Waynesburg, is also the main suspect in the death of Maria Cabuenos, 25, a lab technician who disappeared in 1997, nine months after Willard's death. When he was arrested in June 1997 for a parole violation, he was driving Cabuenos' car. Her body was found in 1998 on New Year's Day in Bucks County.

After an 11-day trial, Bomar was convicted and later sentenced to death for Willard's slaying.

In the recent appeals, Bomar cited numerous issues, including: ineffective counsel; inappropriate contact by jurors with the Sheriff's Department; that he was incompetent when he stood trial; that witnesses received consideration when they testified against him; and that his conviction was based on "false and misleading DNA evidence."

"You name it, they claimed it," said William R. Toal III, assistant district attorney,

Toal said he had been in contact with Paul Willard, the victim's father and a former Chester City police officer.

"Clearly he understands this is not likely the end of the process," Toal said.

Contact Mari A. Schaefer at 610-892-9149, mschaefer@phillynews.com or @MariSchaefer on Twitter.

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