PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A man who admitted last week to killing his former girlfriend more than 30 years ago changed his mind during a sentencing hearing in a Philadelphia courtroom on Monday morning, wrenching the victim’s family from a moment of closure and propelling the case to trial.
Charles Matiland is accused of killing Debra Wiggins, a 31-year-old woman found dead and hogtied on the side of Route 309 in Montgomery County, two months after she was reported missing, in 1988.
He had agreed to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter and serve three to six years in prison. After Matiland's reversal, the judge rejected his plea deal. The case will now go to trial.
“I mean, if he is not taking responsibility, then you can’t go forward with that,” Assistant District Attorney David Osborne of the Homicide Unit said. “So, now we will just get a trial date and go to trial and put up the evidence. We believe that will convict him and prove that he is guilty of killing Debra Wiggins.”
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Osborne read aloud facts of the case during the plea hearing last week.
“The judge looked at [Matiland] and said, ‘Do you agree with those facts?’ And he said yes, and that was it,” Osborne said.
He explained the court did not move on to sentencing that day because the victim’s family could not be there in person, and they were due a chance to make a victim impact statement first.
Wiggins’ daughter appeared in court on Monday to make that statement, telling the judge how hard life has been without her mother — that she didn’t get the chance to tell her when she was pregnant with her first grandchild. She said Matiland had helped the family look for Wiggins when she went missing and watched her family cry, without saying a word.
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When Matiland got the chance to speak, he retracted his plea. Despite the defendant’s thick accent, the judge was able to understand enough of what he said.
“It’s clear you are saying you didn’t kill Ms. Wiggins,” said the judge before rejecting the deal.
A new hearing is set for the end of the month. Wiggins’ daughter said she is devastated because she thought this day would have brought her some form of closure.
Matiland was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 1991 for killing his landlord, whose body was found in the same area as Wiggins’ and tied in the same manner. He served years in prison.