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Court upholds death sentence in Aimee Willard murder

Pa. Supreme Court on Friday denied a Post Conviction Relief Act petition by convicted killer Arthur Bomar.

Arthur Bomar is taken from district court in Ardmore by Lower Merion Police. (Steven M. Falk / Staff Photographer)
Arthur Bomar is taken from district court in Ardmore by Lower Merion Police. (Steven M. Falk / Staff Photographer)Read moreDN *FALK
    by MORGAN ZALOT
    Published 

ARTHUR BOMAR - convicted in 1998 of kidnapping, brutalizing and fatally beating star college athlete Aimee Willard and then dumping her naked body in a weed-strewn North Philadelphia lot - should face death for the horrific slaying, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled for the second time.

The ruling Friday denying a Post Conviction Relief Act petition by Bomar affirmed a September 2012 ruling by Delaware County Common Pleas Judge Frank T. Hazel. Hazel had found numerous claims by Bomar to be meritless, including that he was not competent to stand trial and that his defense counsel was ineffective, according to a statement released yesterday by the Delaware County District Attorney.

The state Supreme Court in 2003 denied Bomar's direct appeal of his death sentence in the June 1996 murder of Willard, 22, a daughter of former Chester Police Officer Paul Willard. Prosecutors said Friday's ruling would require the governor to sign a second death warrant for Bomar, now 55. Then-Gov. Rendell signed the first one in April 2004, but a federal judge stayed the execution the following month.

"For the second time, the Supreme Court has upheld the defendant's conviction and sentence, finding there was overwhelming evidence of his guilt," Delco D.A. Jack Whelan said in a statement. "It is time for his sentence to be carried out without any further delay."

There still could be a delay: Prosecutors said yesterday that they expect Bomar and his lawyers to appeal to federal court.

Bomar was on parole for a Nevada murder when he abducted Willard, a standout lacrosse and soccer player, as she drove home to Brookhaven, Delaware County, on June 20, 1996, after meeting friends at a bar in Wayne.

The Honda Civic that she had been driving when Bomar forced her to stop on a Blue Route off-ramp in Marple and abducted her was found abandoned on the ramp on the morning of her murder. Her badly bruised body was found later that day by boys playing in a vacant lot near 16th Street and Indiana Avenue.

DNA and witness accounts linked Bomar to the slaying.