BALTIMORE — Frank LaPere says his daughter’s murder was preventable. He wants to make sure no other family suffers what his family has in the last few months.
“A father should kiss his daughter goodnight, and not try to cry himself to sleep through avoidable grief," Frank said.
Pava LaPere would have been 27-years-old this Sunday. On September 25, she was found dead on the roof of her Mount Vernon apartment building, suffering from strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head. 32 year-old Jason Billingsley was charged with her murder.
He's also accused of rape, arson, and attempted murder in an incident just a few days before. All of that happened while State's Attorney Ivan Bates says - he should have still been behind bars.
“Before the horrific and tragic death of CEO Pava LaPere, her alleged killer, Mr. Jason Billingsley, had a record including first-degree assault, second-degree assault, and first-degree sex offense,” Bates said.
For that last charge, Billingsley was supposed to be in prison for 14 years, but only ended up serving 7. He was released from prison in October 2022, less than a year before LaPere's murder.
The State's Attorney says that early release was thanks to something called the diminution credits system, commonly referred to as "good-time credits." Inmates can earn these credits for good behavior or participating in special programs, ultimately taking days off their sentence.
The release is automatic; it does not require any approval from a parole board. Bates says that allows offenders like Billingsley to “fall through the cracks."
After LaPere's murder, Bates said the dimunition credit system deserved another look. We reported on those concerns, echoed by other lawmakers, in the days following Billingsley's arrest.
“Governor Moore has stated emphatically on multiple occasions that the system failed Pava. It's time to change that system,” Frank said.
The proposed change: to eliminate dimunition credits for inmates convicted of violent sex crimes, like Billingsley was in 2015.
Delegate Elizabeth Embry is introducing the bill, called the Pava Marie LaPere Act, on behalf of the State's Attorney's Office.
“So what this bill says is if you are going to be released early, if you've committed these horrific acts, it can not just be through the math of diminution credits. It means the parole commission has to approve it, Embry said.
“If this law had been in place, we feel strongly we would not have the victims in this case,” Bates said.
Governor Moore said this morning he would support the legislation if it makes it to his desk.
Friends of LaPere, including fellow tech entrepreneurs and the co-founder of LaPere's company, EcoMap, also spoke at the press conference announcing the new legislation. They said LaPere was committed to investing in Baltimore, wanting to highlight the good in the city, while trying to change the bad.
They believe this is the city's way of returning the favor.
In November, we reported LaPere's colleagues at EcoMap are honoring her legacy by starting a fellowship program in her name.
