Prosecution wants to add evidence to Chesco murder-plot case

During a pretrial hearing for the Chester County 35-year-old mother of three who allegedly conspired with her lover to kill her husband, the prosecution wants to add evidence and the defense hopes to bar it.

Assistant District Attorney Deborah Ryan argued Wednesday that testimony about defendant Morgan M. Mengel's multiple affairs and derogatory comments and actions she took against her husband, Kevin Mengel, over several years demonstrate her reasons for plotting his murder.

Police said Morgan Mengel and Stephen M. Shappell, 22, an employee of the Mengels' West Goshen Township landscaping business, spiked the victim's lemon Snapple on June 17, 2010, with liquid nicotine. When that did not prove immediately fatal, Shappell bludgeoned him with a shovel and buried the body behind his alma mater, Marple Newtown High School, police said.

Defense attorney John J. McMahon Jr. questioned the relevance of alleged infidelities during the Mengels' 13-year marriage. And he argued that even if Morgan Mengel put sleeping pills in her husband's drink about two years ago - as one witness would testify - that did not prove murderous intent.

"Maybe he was acting like a jerk . . . and she wanted him to go to sleep," McMahon suggested.

Judge Thomas G. Gavin seemed to concur.

"There's no nexus" between the affairs and the alleged homicide, he said.

Ryan cited rulings in similar cases that permitted the information because it showed motive. Gavin countered that the testimony indicated Morgan Mengel did not have to kill her husband to engage in extramarital relationships.

"Kevin kept her on a short leash; she didn't like that," Ryan said, explaining that Morgan Mengel had to keep a secret cellphone.

McMahon also wants to prohibit jurors from hearing the interviews Morgan Mengel gave to police before she was read her Miranda rights.

West Goshen Detective David Maurer testified that the defendant was initially "calm, rational, helpful." He said that when Shappell responded to a request by police for an interview by fleeing in Mengel's car, she was eager to report the vehicle stolen.

It was not until her version of events started to unravel that investigators regarded her as a suspect, not a victim, Maurer said.

Testimony is to continue Thursday.