A sex killer should be executed for making his disabled victim drink a cocktail of urine, feces and cigarette ash before murdering her, a court heard.

Melvin Knight, 30, was branded ‘one of the worst’ criminals in Pennsylvanian history at an appeal hearing Thursday which outlined his torture of Jennifer Daugherty.

Knight and five roomates spent two days torturing the mentally-impaired 30 year-old at their apartment in Greensburg, where she was raped before being beaten and stabbed to death.

Jennifer Daughtery suffered appalling abuse at the hands of her murderer Melvin Knight. He is currently appealing his death sentence (Picture: CBS)

Calls for Knight to be executed were bolstered by detals of how he and his cronies then wrapped Daugherty’s body in Christmas lights and garland, before dumping it under a truck in a snowy high school parking lot.




During Thursday’s hearing, covered by TribLive, prosecutor John Peck told jurors how Knight wanted Daugherty dead in a bid to cover up the rape and abuse he had inflicted on her.

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He said: ‘He’s taking full and complete advantage of her.

‘The defendant crossed the line.

‘He knew if he didn’t keep this darkness to himself, all his actions were motivated to prevent this rape from being discovered by anyone.’

Melvin Knight was branded one of the worst killers in the history of Pennsylvania by a prosecutor who called for him to receive the death penalty

Peck added: ‘I ask you to return the proper penalty in this case, which can only be death.’

Knight and his cronies took a vote to kill Daugherty before the February 2010 slaying.

He and two of his fellow killers – Amber Meidinger and Ricky Smyrnes – were condemned to die.

But Knight, who admitted first and second-degree murder in 2012, has since launched an appeal pleading to be resentenced to life in jail.

The killer is himself mentally disabled, and was described as a ‘man-child’ by his attorney Tim Dawson as he tried to convince jurors to sentence him to life in prison.

He is said to have a mental age of between nine and 12.

Dawson added: ‘It’s undisputed this young girl was tragically tortured and killed by the Greensburg Six.

‘What separates you from a mob is that you must decide this case based on the law.

‘You cannot be overwhelmed by passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factor.

‘Nothing you do with your verdict will bring back Jennifer Daugherty.’

Daugherty’s other killers have all been sentenced to 30 years to life in jail without parole.