Life Prison Term Stands for Adopted Son who Beat his Mom to Death

This is a 2009 case.

“A Franklin County man will keep serving a life prison term for beating his 70-year-old adopted mother to death while burglarizing her Chambersburg apartment.

Even before the slaying the victim, Consuela Wallace, had a volatile relationship with Marcus Wallace, Judge Jack A. Panella noted in a Superior Court opinion issued this week rejecting Wallace’s latest appeal.

Twice before her December 2009 murder, Consuela Wallace secured protection from abuse orders against her 42-year-old adopted son, who had previously been convicted of entering her home and assaulting her.

Panella found that the evidence that Marcus Wallace killed her is solid.

A relative who was sleeping in another bedroom of the home heard a large crash and then heard Marcus and Consuela Wallace arguing, the judge noted. That relative found Consuela Wallace unconscious on her bedroom floor bleeding from a head wound. She died from her injuries a month later.

DNA matching Marcus Wallace was found at the slaying scene, Panella wrote. Police said Wallace confessed to the killing while being held in prison in an unrelated criminal case. In January 2015, a county jury convicted him of first-degree murder and burglary.

Marcus Wallace argued on appeal that the evidence didn’t justify his first-degree murder conviction because prosecutors didn’t prove he had a specific intent to kill. That didn’t convince Panella and the other two judges who weighed the appeal.

“It is undisputed that Wallace drove drove over 100 miles that night to Consuela’s home and broke into her bedroom late at night. Under these circumstances, the jury was entitled to find that Wallace acted with the specific intent to kill Consuela,” Panella wrote.

The state judges also rejected Marcus Wallace’s claims that police violated his rights when they questioned him and that the prosecution shouldn’t have been allowed to tell the jury about his prior crimes against his mom.”

Life prison term stands for adopted son who beat mom to death [Penn Live 8/19/16 by Matt Miller]

2010 & 2011 Articles

“A Franklin County man is charged with murder in the home-invasion beating death of his adopted mother. Police say 38-year-old Marcus Wallace broke into Consuella Wallace’s Chambersburg apartment and attacked her December 10, leaving her in a coma. Marcus Wallace was charged with murder Tuesday following his mother’s death on Feb. 9.

Franklin County Coroner Jeffrey Conner says 70-year-old Consuella Wallace died of blunt force head trauma.

Marcus Wallace was already facing charges including aggravated assault for the alleged attack. He has been in custody since his arrest in Pittsburgh in mid-December on an unrelated assault charge. It was not immediately clear if Wallace had an attorney. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday.”

Chambersburg man accused of beating his mother to death[Penn Live 2/17/10 by AP]

“Frankllin [sic] County District Attorney Matthew Fogal, will seek the death penalty for 38 year old Marcus Leonard Wallace of Pittsburgh in the death of his mother. Wallace had been charged with attempted homicide in the brutal beating of 70 year old Consuella Wallace in her Hamilton Township home last December. She suffered a depressed skull and went into a coma. She died last month. Wallace was charged on February 9 with her murder.

Fogal filed a Notice of Aggravating Circumstances on Wednesday. In the notice Fogal explains that Marcus Wallace killed Consuella Wallace while committing a felony, a burglary.

At 2 a.m. December 10, police said someone broke into Consuella Wallace’s home, …, and hit her in the face and head several times with an unknown object. Marcus Wallace was arrested near Pittsburgh on December 11 on an unrelated warrant for simple assault and disorderly conduct out of Chambersburg.

A manadatory arraignment for Wallace is set for March 16.”

Marcus Wallace Charged with Killing his Mother; Franklin County DA Will Ask for the Death Penalty [Fox 43 3/9/11 by Howard L. Sheppard]

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