Philadelphia Inquirer
Thursday, May. 23, 2002

Graves could be in Phila. today to wrap up plea deal

Troy Graves, the accused Center City rapist-murderer, is expected to be returned to the city from Fort Collins, Colo., possibly as soon as today, to wrap up a guilty-plea agreement with the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.

Law-enforcement sources said yesterday that Philadelphia police and prosecutors were in Fort Collins this week interviewing Graves and making arrangements to wrap up sexual-assault and murder charges against him. Graves, 30, was sentenced to life in prison on Friday in Colorado after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting five women there. In Philadelphia, he is accused of sexually assaulting six Center City women and killing one, Shannon Schieber, a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

Graves' public defender in Colorado, Kathryn Hay, said Graves entered his guilty plea with the understanding that he would serve his term in Colorado and that Pennsylvania authorities would not pursue the death penalty. The agreement called for Graves to be flown to Philadelphia, enter his Pennsylvania pleas, and be returned to Colorado.