Jury sentences Modery to life in prison
WASHINGTON – After hearing five weeks of testimony, jurors in the Gregory Modery homicide trial deliberated for less than 40 minutes Friday before sentencing him to life in prison. On Wednesday, the jury of 10 women and two men found Modery, 32, of McMurray, guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit homicide, aggravated assault, kidnapping, robbery and criminal conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, kidnapping and robbery in the Dec. 12, 1999, death of Ohio medical consultant Ira Swearingen.
Modery was an accomplice of confessed murderer Alexander Martos, who pleaded guilty in exchange for a life sentence. Martos told the jurors that he pulled the trigger, but Modery had selected the location of the murder and had taunted him into committing the crime as they drove to the scene.
Judge Katherine B. Emery instructed the jurors that they all had to agree that aggravating circumstances were present in the first-degree murder case before deciding if those circumstances outweighed any mitigating circumstances.
“If you don’t all agree on the aggravated circumstances, you must end deliberations and impose a life sentence,” Emery told the jurors.
The jury ruled that no aggravating circumstances existed to warrant the death penalty sought by District Attorney John Pettit.
Pettit had presented a case for torture as an aggravating circumstance, calling Allegheny County Coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht to the stand to describe the injuries Swearingen suffered before dying.
Wecht’s testimony was graphic, describing the pain Swearingen felt from four broken ribs and fractures around his left eye, forehead and cheekbone. Wecht described how the pain would be compounded by shock Swearingen would have experienced after being kept naked in the trunk of his car for 21/2 hours in temperatures in the lower 40s.
Swearingen’s sister Pat Coleman detailed her brother’s professional life, including a stint in the Navy, with one year on the USS Enterprise in the Bay of Tonkin during the Vietnam War. He served in the hospital, supporting teams providing medical services in the field.
He went on to work with orthopedic surgeons, eventually becoming a product manager for Sulzer Orthopedics. His job involved traveling to Europe and Asia to teach surgeons how to transplant joints and use the special tools required. Sulzer eventually created a special position for Swearingen so he could work closer to his family in Ohio, Coleman said.
Another sister, Gretchen McGlone, testified about how her brother quit his job to come home and stay with his mother after she suffered a stroke in 1979 and how he was supportive during other catastrophic times for the family.
“I feel I speak for my whole family when I say Ira was our mentor, our hero, our savior and our best friend,” she said. “I don’t know what I will ever do without him.
On the defense side, Modery’s attorney, Fred Rabner, presented testimony for five mitigating circumstances, including the fact that Modery had no prior record, that he wasn’t the gunman, that he has been a model inmate and that his execution would have a profound and detrimental effect on his 11-year-old daughter and his wife.
Several of Modery’s friends testified about the bond between Modery and his daughter. His mother-in-law, Alberta Novak, said she has known Modery and his family since he was 15 years old and was proud to have him as a son-in-law.
“I thought it was quite admirable how Greg stayed home and raised Stephanie while Chris (his wife) finished up her last year of school,” Novak said. “Stephanie adores her father. You can tell that, for Greg, she’s his entire world.
“I’d like the jury to remember while they are in there deliberating, to kill Greg won’t bring Mr. Swearingen back. You’ll only be destroying Stephanie’s life and Chris’s life,” Novak said.
Modery’s wife, Christine Modery, testified that her husband took care of their daughter from the time she was eight weeks old up until the time of his arrest Dec. 17, 1999. She testified that she and her husband have tried to shield their daughter from the trial and decided against having her testify, as was suggested to them.
“The hardest thing I had to do was the other night telling her he’s not coming home. I couldn’t even say never coming home. I just said he wouldn’t be coming home anytime soon,” Mrs. Modery said.
Mrs. Modery said her husband talks to their daughter every day and she visits him at least once a week. She pleaded with the jury not to impose the death sentence for her daughter’s sake.
“I don’t know how I would tell her. Please don’t do it. It would destroy her,” Mrs. Modery said.
She also showed the jurors a computerized slide show of family pictures. Mrs. Modery said the life she portrayed to the jurors – her husband as a kind, loving father – was the only life she knows for him.
“He wasn’t living a double life. I do not believe that. The man I know is not who you say he is,” Mrs. Modery said, directing her comments to Pettit.
After the verdict, Pettit said he wasn’t surprised by the jury’s decision.
“I think based on all the evidence we had presented, it would have been appropriate for him to be sentenced to death, but I didn’t expect it,” Pettit said.
Swearingen’s family also accepted the decision.
“We are satisfied. Justice has been served. That’s what we were looking for,” Coleman said.
Rabner said he also was satisfied with the decision.
“I thought that was the appropriate result for this phase. I do believe the defense established reasonable doubt, and I was surprised at the first-degree murder conviction,” Rabner said.
Rabner said that after completion of the sentencing phase Nov. 1, he will consider appeals regarding the charges other than homicide of which his client was found guilty.