Gregory Graf guilty of first-degree murder in stepdaughter's killing.
Six minutes.
That was almost the length of the video Gregory R. Graf recorded of himself sexually abusing his stepdaughter's corpse after he murdered her.
Six minutes.
That was also the amount of time that a Northampton County jury needed Friday before convicting the 54-year-old Allen Township man of first-degree murder, condemning him to life in prison without parole.
The quick verdict brought tears of relief and gasps of "Yes!" from the family of Jessica Padgett, a mother of three who was shot in the back of the head by Graf without warning at his home last year.
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It capped an emotional trial and emotional final day of testimony. The last piece of evidence prosecutors presented was the disturbing video that Graf produced after he killed Padgett last November.
The emotion only continued after the jury reached its decision, as Padgett's sister, Kristi Davis, strode up to Graf before he was formally sentenced and denounced him as a selfish man who stole a beloved woman and shattered a family and a community.
"I know you probably don't care what I have to say, but for once someone isn't concerned about you," Davis said, looking directly at the impassive Graf. "You're going to listen to what I have to say for Jes and myself."
Graf, Davis said, could have pleaded guilty and taken the punishment he had earned. Instead, he forced Padgett's loved ones to endure "excruciating" testimony and relive a "nightmare," she said.
"What I've learned from this trial is that even now you don't regret it, you don't even care," Davis said.
Padgett's mother, Danelle Bittner, called her slain daughter her "best friend" and said life will never be the same.
"We are not here for Mr. Graf," Bittner, Graf's wife of 17 years, said in a statement read in court by a prosecutor. "We are here to be the voice of Jes, who can no longer speak for herself."
At trial, the defense conceded that Graf killed Padgett on Nov. 21, then hid her body, prompting a frantic five-day search for the missing Whitehall Township woman.
Graf attorney Jack McMahon told the jury his client was guilty and deserved to be convicted of murdering Padgett and desecrating her corpse. But McMahon argued that the killing wasn't premeditated, saying that "something snapped" with Graf.
District Attorney John Morganelli sought a conviction for first-degree murder and the life sentence it automatically brings. By contrast, third-degree murder, which does not require premeditation, carries a sentence of at most 20 to 40 years.
The jury also found Graf guilty of abusing Padgett's corpse. President Judge Stephen Baratta gave Graf a life sentence and added a one- to two-year term on top of that — the maximum on the other charge, a largely symbolic gesture.
"This is a crime against human nature, and what you did violates basic family bonds," Baratta told Graf. Padgett's relatives "will have to suffer from this crime for the rest of their life, and my heart goes out to them."
Graf said little before he was led away by deputy sheriffs, and he showed no signs of emotion.
"No, sir," he said Baratta asked him if had anything to say. "Just that I'm very sorry."
The video Graf recorded was a constant in the trial, even before it was played for the jury Friday in a darkened courtroom.
Throughout testimony, its mere mention carried emotional resonance. During jury selection last week, one-fifth of the members of the jury pool were excused after they said they would be unable to watch it.
But it is one thing to describe the recordings, which show Graf performing sex acts on Padgett's corpse several hours after he killed her. It is another thing to actually view them, as the nine men and three women who decided Graf's fate now know.
One juror's eyes filled with tears while the video played. Another's face twisted into a look of profound distaste. Another sat motionless with his hand over his mouth, his fingers pinching his eyes. The courtroom was silent.
The video was made up of eight recordings that were shot by Graf over a span of two hours using two cameras. It was presented on a screen that was purposefully placed away from the view of the audience, where many members of Padgett's family sat. Others chose to stay away — including Bittner and Padgett's father, Thomas Kaczmar, who took their seats only after it was over.
Even the sounds from the recordings were taxing to hear, with Graf at one point speaking profanely to Padgett's lifeless body, whose head he had covered in a plastic bag. The actual images were even worse.
McMahon, the defense attorney, didn't look at the display as the video played, keeping his eyes averted and swiveling his chair away. His client also did not look, busying himself reading court papers in front of him.
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