Boy, 14, gets 35-80 years for killing grandparents
PITTSBURGH — A northwestern Pennsylvania boy interrupted his jury selection Wednesday to plead guilty to slaying his grandparents when he was just 13, and was immediately sentenced to 35 to 80 years in state prison.
Venango County prosecutors planned to seek first-degree murder convictions against Zachary Proper, who turned 14 in July, which would have carried mandatory life sentences without parole. The death penalty wasn’t on the table because it can’t be imposed against defendants younger than 18 in Pennsylvania law.
An Oil City newspaper was the first to report Proper agreed to plead guilty to two counts of third-degree murder, defined as a killing with malice but without premeditation.
Proper of Oil City was given consecutive sentences of 17½ to 40 years for killing George Fross, 69, and Dorothy Fross, 67, on Oct. 7, 2012, at their Sandycreek Township home.
According to a state police criminal complaint, Proper’s parents, Ryan and Karen Kapp, called Oil City police the night of Oct. 8, 2012, because they were concerned their son had gotten drunk and high the night before and stole his grandparents’ car. The Kapps called police because the Frosses didn’t answer the phone and because Proper told them “his friend had shot and killed his grandparents,” the complaint said.
The Oil City police chief went to the Frosses’ home and questioned Proper, who acknowledged shooting his grandparents, authorities said. The state police were eventually called because they have jurisdiction in the township where the grandparents lived.
Proper’s attorney had tried to get the case moved to juvenile court, which had jurisdiction to incarcerate Proper only until he turns 21. Venango County Judge Oliver Lobaugh rejected that saying the incarceration potential in juvenile court was “wholly inadequate to ensure the public’s safety.”
Proper will get credit for more than 450 days he’s already been jailed, meaning he’ll be eligible for parole in about 33½ years.
Third-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years, meaning Proper received five years less than the maximum 40- to 80-year sentence for pleading guilty to both counts.
