Philadelphia Daily News
Thursday, May 23, 2002

Sources: City offers a deal to Troy Graves

Won't seek death penalty for info in Schieber case

By NICOLE WEISENEE EGAN,
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Philadelphia prosecutors have offered to spare accused Center City Rapist Troy Graves the death penalty if he reveals details about the rape-murder of Wharton School student Shannon Schieber that might help the city fight a civil suit filed by Schieber's parents, sources said yesterday.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys from Philadelphia and Fort Collins, Colo., met with Graves all day Tuesday in the Larimer County Detention Center in Colorado and grilled him about Schieber's death, officials said.

Graves, 30, has pleaded guilty to a rape spree in Colorado and has been sentenced to life imprisonment under a deal that allows him to serve the time in Colorado. If he goes on trial in Philadelphia on five sexual assaults and the Schieber rape-murder, he is eligible for the death penalty.

Philadelphia prosecutors, however, are offering to spare his life if he gives details about the Schieber killing, sources said.

A Philadelphia homicide detective, Charles Jones, said yesterday Graves could arrive in Philadelphia today to face charges here. He said two homicide detectives were in Colorado and planned to bring Graves back here.

Schieber's father, Sylvester, said he thinks his civil lawsuit and the criminal case should be kept separate. He said he was upset that he and his wife were not being told what's going on.

"We're concerned they're putting pressure on him to tell a story they specifically want told whether or not it bears any resemblance to the truth," he said yesterday, noting that he has made several calls to the Philadelphia district attorney's office this week and that none has been returned.

"It's very aggravating," he said. "The city has repeatedly stuck their finger in our eye figuratively, and this is just one more example."

He and his wife, Vicki, don't want Graves executed, but they also don't want authorities to use execution as a bargaining tool to beat them in their civil lawsuit.

"Ijustthinkthisisaclub they're holding over this guy's head to get him to do what they want him to do," Schieber said. "Given what they've done to us, we don't come to this with a great deal of trust in them."

District Attorney Lynne Abraham said through a spokeswoman: "I understand the concerns of the Schieber family, and as soon as it is appropriate to discuss the case with the family or the public, I will do so."

Bill Sublette, one of Graves' public defenders in Fort Collins, would not comment yesterday. The Daily News was unable to reach Graves' Philadelphia public defender, Dan Stevenson, who was also at the Tuesday meeting.

Shannon Schieber, 23, was killed May 7, 1998. The Schiebers hired civil rights attorney David Rudovsky and sued the city after learning that a neighbor of hers had called police to report screaming and other noises from Schieber's apartment.

Two officers knocked on Schieber's door but left when they got no response. The Schiebers' suit, awaiting a trial date, contends that police had enough evidence that she was in danger to break down her door that night. The city contends that police did not have the right to break into her apartment.

Dr. Michael Baden, a nationally renowned forensic expert who was hired by the Schiebers and who testified as a defense expert in the O.J. Simpson civil trial, said she likely was still alive when police arrived.

But Vincent DiMaio, a Texas forensic pathologist hired by the city, said she was dead before police arrived.

Whether or not she was alive, it appears Graves was still inside when police arrived. Before leaving, one cop shined his light on the balcony of Schieber's second-floor apartment and noticed that the sliding-glass door to her apartment was open.

The next day, Shannon's brother and a neighbor broke open the front door and found her dead on her bed. They said the sliding-glass door on the balcony was closed.

"There is only one person in the world who can still converse with anybody who knows what transpired in that room when those two officers were there - Troy Graves," Sylvester Schieber said. "He may not ultimately be able to provide credible evidence, but he's certainly the only person that has a clue."

In a letter released this week that authorities say Graves wrote to them, the Bensalem High School dropout contends that Shannon Schieber was alive when he left her apartment.