Man appeals term Greensburg woman's torture-murder

GREENSBURG, Pa. — A defendant who received the shortest sentence in the torture killing of a mentally challenged Pennsylvania woman is appealing the term.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that 40-year-old Robert Masters filed a handwritten appeal in Westmoreland County Court asking that he be allowed to rescind his guilty plea or receive a lesser sentence.

Masters was sentenced to 30 to 70 years in the 2010 death of 30-year-old Jennifer Daugherty, who was tortured over two days and then killed in Greensburg, about 30 miles east of Pittsburgh.

Masters said his own mental impairment prevented him from making a thoughtful decision in pleading guilty to third-degree murder and conspiracy.

WPXI