NORRISTOWN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Montgomery County’s first death penalty trial in nearly a decade is underway in Norristown.
Rafiq Thompson, 40, is accused of shooting and killing his ex-girlfriend, 31-year-old Tamara Cornelius, and their unborn child at the Exxon gas station on North Gulph Road in King of Prussia in April 2022.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele told the jury on Monday that Thompson felt if he couldn’t have Cornelius, no one could.
The two met at a restaurant in the King of Prussia Mall on April 8, but Thompson left soon after they ordered.
According to Steele, Thompson waited in his car for Cornelius, then followed her to a crowded gas station across the street. He blocked her in as she pumped gas, shot her multiple times, and fled. She was 14 weeks pregnant.
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Thompson’s lawyer, Frank Genovese, conceded to jurors that it was a crime of passion, not premeditated — a key aspect of first-degree murder. Genovese said Thompson wanted to start a family, but Cornelius told him he would be lucky if he ever even got to see their child.
Thompson could face a death sentence if he is convicted of two counts of first-degree murder.
Rhagu Yandamuri was the last person tried on a death sentence in Montgomery County. He was convicted and sent to death row in 2014.
Pennsylvania has had a moratorium on executions since 2015, and the state has not carried out the death penalty since Gary Heidnik was killed by lethal injection in 1999.
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The trial is expected to last two weeks.