Fatally stabbed,Kimberly Hvizda,37,feared estranged husband would kill her/Update:05/10/12:Hvizda has plead Guilty to avoid the Death Penalty..Update: 07/19/12: Hvizda reverses Plea to Not Guilty!!Update: 7/27: Hvidza gets Life in Prison!

By Kathleen Brady Shea
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
A Chester County mother's worst fear - that her estranged husband would kill her or one of her four children - was first articulated last summer, months before she was fatally stabbed Sunday night, her attorney said.

Francis C. Miller said his client, Kimberly Hvizda, believed that James J. Hvizda, a former baseball star, was capable of murder, and she secured a restraining order against him in November, more than six months after she had filed for divorce.

Kimberly Hvizda, 37, of Chester Springs, was starting her shift at the Wawa convenience store in Upper Uwchlan Township at 11 p.m. Sunday when James Hvizda arrived for a prearranged exchange of letters, the criminal complaint said.

James Hvizda, 45, told police that he had purchased a knife from Dick's Sporting Goods in Langhorne the day before. He said when his wife reached into her van to grab the letters, he drew the knife and stabbed her multiple times, leaving the weapon protruding from her stomach, the complaint said.

Police were notified about the fatal stabbing twice, the complaint said. A coworker at the Wawa off Route 100 at 1800 Ticonderoga Blvd. called 911 after checking on Kimberly Hvizda's whereabouts and finding her body in the parking lot. In the meantime, James Hvizda walked into the nearby Upper Uwchlan Police Department about 11:10 p.m. When an officer asked "How can I help you?", he responded: "I just killed my wife," the complaint said.

In a subsequent taped interview with police, James Hvizda said that he had used the letters as a ruse to set up the fatal rendezvous and that "it was his intention to kill her during that Sunday meeting," the complaint said. He told police he had been contemplating his wife's death since around St. Patrick's Day; he even kept a journal that chronicled his intentions, the criminal complaint said.

"This was a cold-blooded, preplanned killing. The defendant executed his wife, the mother of his four children, with casual efficiency," Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said. "Those four children are now left without a mother and with a father charged with murder."

Miller, the attorney, said he was "devastated" by the news, describing Kimberly Hvizda as a kind, loving person. "She was a hardworking mother who would do anything to protect her kids," Miller said. "She worked the midnight shift so she could spend more time with them."

Besides the three children ages 1 to 6 that she had with her husband, Kimberly Hvizda also had a 15-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, Miller said.

According to court records, the couple married in St. Thomas in September 2004. A year later, their first son was born, and in January 2007, they bought a $450,000 home in the Pickering Spring Farm subdivision in Chester Springs.

In March 2010, both the marriage and the couple's finances appeared to be on the rocks. Kimberly Hvizda moved out, and James Hvizda had already stopped paying the mortgage, according to foreclosure records. Custody records suggest alcohol was a problem for James Hvizda, a former baseball standout who was drafted by the Texas Rangers in 1988.

A 1984 graduate of Bishop Egan High School in Fairless Hills and Old Dominion University, James Hvizda won the minor-league Rolaids Relief Man Award in 1989 for the Texas Rangers' single-A farm club in Gastonia, N.C. But he never rose above the Class A level in the Rangers' organization.

Miller said Hvizda had been working at a Swann's Pantry grocery store in Quakertown. A manager there said only the owner could speak with the media about an employee, and he was not available.

According to court records, James Hvizda, who has a long history of motor-vehicle violations, pleaded guilty to public drunkenness in Bucks County in 2003. He was jailed for a day in October in Chester County on charges that he stalked his wife; he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Pennsylvania man stabs wife, immediately confesses to cops
James Hzivda went straight to the police station after allegedly murdering his estranged wife
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
BY NINA MANDELL / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, March 27, 2012, 11:02 AM

James (Jim) Hvizda, 45, of Chester Springs, Pa. confessed to the premeditated killing of his estranged wife, Kimberly, according to authorities.

A Pennsylvania man met his estranged wife, Kimberly Hvizda, outside of the Wawa where she worked, pulled out a knife and stabbed her multiple times on Sunday night, authorities said.

He then walked to the local police station and confessed to the crime in a jarring conversation with a shocked cop, NBC Philadelphia reports.

According to the report, James Hvizda rang the doorbell at the Upper Uwchlan Township Police Department at 11:10 p.m. and told the cop on duty, "I just killed my wife."

The shocked cop, identified as Cpl. Joseph Carr, replied "Where?"

"At your Wawa," he replied.

"Is she alive?" Carr asked.

Hzivda said she was dead, NBC Philadelphia reported.

The Chester County prosecutor called the murder a "cold-blooded pre-planned killing."

"The defendant executed his wife, the mother of his four children, with casual efficiency," the Chester County prosecutor told the TV station. "Those four children are now left without a mother and with a father charged with murder."

Kimberly Hvizda’s former lawyer, Francis Miller, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that his client had been terrified of her husband, and secured a restraining order against him in November.

"She was a hardworking mother who would do anything to protect her kids," Miller told the newspaper. "She worked the midnight shift so she could spend more time with them."

James Hvizda is being held without bail, according to the report.

Read more: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Stabbing victim had protection order against husband

Published: Tuesday, March 27, 2012

An East Brandywine woman who was allegedly murdered by her estranged husband in the parking lot of a Wawa in the township Sunday night had a protection from abuse order against him, police revealed Monday.

Kimberly Hvizda was stabbed to death at the Wawa in the 1800 block of Ticonderoga Boulevard at about 11:15 p.m. on Sunday.

James Hvizda, 45, of Upper Uwchlan, reportedly entered the Upper Uwchlan police station a short time later and told police he had just stabbed his estranged wife.

Hvizda reportedly told police he and his wife had planned to meet to exchange two envelopes prior to her shift at the convenience store. (If she had an Order of Protection on him, she violated it by agreeing to meet w/him. If she had told him to have his attorney mail the envelopes to her, she would be alive today! Not Blaming her, just saying.)

Kimberly Hvizda had a protection from abuse order placed on her husband in late October of 2011. That order was to be effective through October of 2014.

According to Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan, Wawa employees were calling 9-1-1 when police were arriving on the scene. Kimberly Hvizda was pronounced dead at the scene with multiple stab wounds to the stomach. Police said James Hvizda told them he also held the knife to his wife’s throat and pressed it against her. The knife, the envelopes and a sheath were all found on the scene at the Wawa.

“This was a cold-blooded, pre-planned killing,” Hogan said in a written statement. “The defendant executed his wife, the mother of their four children, with casual efficiency. Those four children are now without a mother, and a father charged with murder.”

The couple had three children together and Kimberly Hvizda had a daughter from a previous marriage, according to Kimberly Hvizda’s attorney, Francis Miller.

James Hvizda reportedly told police he had begun keeping a journal about a week ago outlining his desires to kill his wife. Hvizda allegedly said he went to Wawa with the intention of killing his wife. He said he purchased the knife on Saturday.

Assisting Upper Uwchlan Police at the scene were Uwchlan, West Pikeland, West Whiteland, and West Vincent police departments as well as Uwchlan Ambulance, Lionville Fire Company, Chester County Detectives, and the Chester County Coroner’s office.

“This was a cooperative effort of local and county law enforcement agencies,” Upper Uwchlan Police Chief John DiMarco said. “I appreciate the efforts of everyone involved in this incident. The citizens of Chester County can be proud of this team effort.”
What "team effort"? The guy went to the police station and told them he stabbed his wife and where she was!

Hvizda was arraigned on Monday morning without the possibility of bail. He was charged with first-degree murder and related charges and awaits a preliminary hearing on April 3 at 9 a.m. in the District Court of Lori Novak Donatelli.

At the arraignment, Hvizda said he has suffered from depression or mental illness in the past and is currently taking medication. He did not say what the medication is treating. He showed little or no emotion.

Miller said Kimberly Hvizda was afraid of her husband, and feared for the safety of herself and her children. He said James Hvizda, who was 6-4 and 280 pounds, intimidated his wife.

“She was petrified of him quite frankly,” Miller said on Monday. “All she cared about was trying to protect her kids. Whatever it took.”

Miller said Kimberly Hvizda filed for divorce in April, but continued to live in the couple’s home on in Upper Uwchlan until June when she finally moved out. Miller said his client gave him a note that said she was afraid of her husband killing her or harming her children.

“I fear he will kill me for taking the kids, or will hurt the kids to hurt me,” Hvizda wrote in a note to her attorney. “We are not safe until he finds us.”

The incident that led to the protection from abuse order began on the morning of Oct. 22. She said in a hand-written chronicle of events included in the court filing that she was leaving her job stocking shelves at Target in the Eagleview Shopping Center in Uwchlan with co-workers around 8:30 a.m. when she saw James Hvizda drive by in his car. She said she hid behind some trees and saw him park in the parking lot near an Applebee’s so he could watch her car.

She said she was able to get a manager from her job to accompany her to her car, and watched as James Hvizda drove away. She called her house and spoke to her daughter, who said that Hvizda had just walked in the house “like he lived there,” she wrote. When she came home, she asked him to leave.

But later that day he began calling and texting her repeatedly, more than 80 times over the period of 3½ hours. She told him not to come to her house, and that he was not welcome there, but he showed up around 5:30 p.m. She called police after hiding her children in a bedroom, according to her account of the incident.

She told him again to leave, but he did not, so she called East Brandywine police. When they arrived, Hvizda told them he had come to get something from his wife’s van. Officers told him to leave and not come back, but shortly before 7 p.m. Kimberly Hvizda called police to say that he had come back to the neighborhood and was spotted by a neighbor walking toward the house.

Corporal James Ferraro, in an arrested affidavit filed against James Hvizda in October, responded to the call and saw him arrive at the house as he was speaking with Kimberly Hvizda. Asked why he was there, he told Ferraro that he needed to get a garage door opener from his wife so that he could open his garage in Chester Springs. When he got the opener, Ferraro told him not to return.

“That’s it, you are done,” Ferraro wrote that he told the defendant.

In her statement, Kimberly Hvizda said that she felt confident that her husband would not return. But around 11 p.m., police knocked on her door and said that a neighbor had seen him walking around the house, peeking in windows and hiding in a backyard shed, and had called them. When they arrived, Hvizda ran from the property and was later found exiting a wooded area near the house.

“I am completely horrified that he was trying to break in to take my boys or hurt us,” she wrote.

He was charged with defiant trespass, loitering and prowling at night, and stalking. In the protection order, Hvizda was told not to go to his wife’s house for any reason and not to have any contact with his wife except in regards to his supervised custody of their children, ages 1 through 5.

Under a plea agreement, Hvizda agreed to plead guilty for disorderly conduct and have the other charges dropped. He was required to have no contact with his wife, undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation, complete 24 hours of community service an pay a $150 fine.

Hvizda has a criminal history of two alcohol related charges and a series of traffic violations, but no violence.

James Hvizda was a standout pitcher for Cornwell-Egan High School in Bucks County and went on to pitch for Old Dominion University in Virginia.

He was drafted as a right-handed relief pitcher by the Texas Rangers in 1988. He played for five minor league teams in four seasons, never rising above the AA level, and posted a 14-8 record with a 2.47 ERA. He named his sons after Rangers owner and Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan. He works as a manager at a Swann’s Pantry grocery store in the Reading area.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

OMG how sad! It's too bad she ever considered meeting him! I agree, she was in violation of the restraining order herself and I'm not blaming her either but it cost her her life.

raine1953 wrote:OMG how sad! It's too bad she ever considered meeting him! I agree, she was in violation of the restraining order herself and I'm not blaming her either but it cost her her life.

Officials: Accused wife killer had long domestic violence history
BY MICHAEL N. PRICE
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Posted: 03/28/12 04:59 pm


James Hvizda allegedly stabbed his estranged wife to death in the Wawa parking in Upper Uwchlan on Sunday.
A man who surrendered himself to local police after allegedly stabbing his estranged wife to death in a Wawa parking lot Sunday was known by arresting officers for a history of domestic violence related incidents at the couple’s home, according to an affidavit filed at district court.

James J. Hvizda, 45, of Upper Uwchlan, was arrested Sunday after his wife, Kimberly Hvizda, died from stab wounds suffered in a brutal attack at about 11:15 p.m. before starting her shift at the Upper Uwchlan Wawa. Court records show there was a history of domestic violence and harassment between the troubled couple, including an incident last year that resulted in a protection order barring James Hvizda from having contact with his wife. Records show that Kimberly Hvizda made it known that she feared for her safety and that of her children at least twice over the past year, including a note given to her attorney during divorce proceedings last April. “I fear he will kill me for taking the kids, or will hurt the kids to hurt me,” Kimberly Hvizda wrote. Dolly Wideman-Scott, the CEO of the Domestic Violence Center of Chester County, expressed sympathy for the tragic death of Kimberly Hvizda. “Our heart goes out to the family for their loss,” Wideman-Scott said. “Each death is a tragedy for us as a community.” Wideman-Scott said there is a wide and comprehensive array of programs and services aimed at providing support for victims of domestic violence and their children before a tragedy takes place. The domestic violence center operates a 24-hour hot line for victims to reach out for support as well as maintaining an emergency shelter. The organization also conducts community education and prevention programs and provides legal assistance for victims to bring their cases to court. Chester County District Attorney Thomas P. Hogan said he had a meeting with Wideman-Scott just last Friday, during which the two discussed cooperation between the domestic violence center and the District Attorney’s office. “Mainly we discussed two things. One, how unpredictable this type of violence can be. Two, how stretched thin law enforcement and social resources are right now,” Hogan said. Hogan pointed to reduced funding from state and federal sources that have affected local authorities’ ability to deal with domestic violence cases. “Funding is being cut across the board,” Hogan said. “It is making things more difficult and more dangerous.” Hogan said in past years the District Attorney’s office has received a federal grant that funded a prosecutor dedicated solely to prosecuting cases of domestic violence. Under new budgets that grant has been cut entirely, spreading the burden of prosecuting perpetrators of domestic violence. Hogan said the District Attorney’s office and the domestic violence center agree cooperation is the key to making up for the loss in resources. “We need to be more vigilant to work together to make things more safe,” Hogan said. The domestic violence center has two staff attorneys and a legal advocate. Wideman-Scott said providing legal services to victims is a pivotal part of the support process, allowing victims to force their abusers to answer for their actions in court. “Abusers or perpetrators of violence need to be held accountable for their actions,” she said. Unfortunately in the case of Kimberly Hvizda, the full protection of the legal system was not enough to save her, authorities said. James Hvizda was previously arrested on Oct. 22, 2011, after police were called to the home of his wife, who had moved to a home in East Brandywine. Kimberly Hvizda told police that day that James Hvizda repeatedly called and texted her cellphone about 80 times and showed up to her house after she had ordered him not too. Police arrived and ordered James Hvizda to leave, but were called to the scene again at around 11 p.m. after neighbors reported they had seen him peeking in windows and hiding in a backyard shed. Hvizda fled the property through a wooded area when police arrived but was later located and arrested. “I was completely horrified that he was trying to break in and take my boys or hurt us,” Kimberly Hvizda wrote in a statement to police. Following the incident Hvizda was charged with stalking and repeatedly committing acts to cause fear, defiant trespass, loitering and prowling at night and related offenses. He later struck a plea agreement that ordered him to undergo drug and alcohol evaluation, complete 24 hours of community service, and have no contact with his wife until 2014. “Unfortunately, in this case, it seems there is little more that could have been done,” Hogan said, pointing again to the often unpredictable nature of domestic violence. The domestic violence center maintains a strong working relationship with local law enforcement agencies to ensure victims of violence are served efficiently and compassionately. “We can always count on them (law enforcement) when we encounter domestic violence, they always support us,” Wideman-Scott said. According to Wideman-Scott, each year more than 3,000 people come to the domestic violence center in Chester County. Statistics show that one in four women are victims of domestic violence, she said. “If you think about one in four women in relation to population of Chester County, the 3,000 that we serve is a small number of actual victims of domestic violence,” Wideman-Scott said. If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, please call the Domestic Violence Center of Chester County’s toll free hot line at 1-888-711-6270.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

UPPER UWCHLAN TWP., Pa. - April 3, 2012 (WPVI) -- The Chester County man accused of murdering his estranged wife outside a Wawa store appeared in court on Tuesday.

James Hvizda, 45, was ordered to be held on charges he killed Kimberly Hvizda in Upper Uwchlan Township on Sunday, March 25th.

His formal arraignment has been set for April 12th. Hvizda was then transported back to prison.

The killing happened around 11:00 that night outside the store at 1800 Ticonderoga Boulevard.

According to the police affidavit, the pair spoke by cell phone on Wednesday and agreed to meet at the store.

D.A. Tom Hogan said James Hvizda had met Kimberly at the store where she worked as she was beginning her shift. The two had a conversation in front of the store, Hogan said, then walked over to Kimberly's van.

That was where James Hvizda stabbed Kimberly multiple times, Hogan said.

When Kimberly did not return to the store, a fellow employee went outside to check on her and found her in the parking lot.

At about the same time, Hogan said, James Hvizda walked into the Upper Uwchlan Police Department to report he had just killed his wife.

Rescuers arrived at the scene to find Kimberly Hvizda dead.

The Hvizdas had four children ranging in age from 18 months old to 13 years old.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

UWCHLAN – When James John Hvizda was asked whether he wanted to remain silent or have an attorney with him during questioning by police in the hours after his estranged wife was stabbed to death in the parking lot of an Upper Uwchlan Wawa, he said no.

All he wanted before talking was to use the restroom, one of the investigators assigned to the case testified at a preliminary hearing Tuesday. Hvizda, a former minor league pitcher, was ordered held over for trial on murder charges at the hearing. After that, he gave police a straightforward statement in which he admitted designing a plan that would culminate in Kimberly Hvizda’s death on Sunday, March 25. Under questioning from Assistant District Attorney Michelle Frei, who along with District Attorney Thomas Hogan is prosecuting the case, Chester County Detective Michael McGinnis said that Hvizda told him during a tape-recorded interview that “he stabbed his wife to death” and that he had used a knife he had purchased the day before to kill her.

“He said he bought the knife so he could kill his wife,” McGinnis testified before Magisterial District Judge Lori Donatelli. Asked under cross-examination by one of Hvizda’s attorneys, Assistant Public Defender Peter Jurs, to describe his client’s demeanor, McGinnis said that Hvizda had remained calm during the 67-minute-long interview, which the veteran detective conducted alongside Upper Uwchlan Detective Thomas Jones, his co-arresting officer in the case. “He was clear,” McGinnis told Jurs. “He was concise. And he was coherent as to what was going on.” Hvizda, 45, was held for trial on charges of first-degree murder, third-degree murder, and possession of an instrument of crime at the conclusion of the brief preliminary hearing, which took less than 10 minutes to conduct. Hogan said later that the investigation into the crime is continuing, and hinted that further charges may be forthcoming – since Hvizda was under a court-ordered protection from abuse order when the fatal stabbing took place. “This is a cold-blooded, black-hearted, killing,” Hogan said after the preliminary hearing, noting that Hvizda’s demeanor that McGinnis testified to showed evidence of that characterization. “He decided and planned to kill his wife, writing about killing his wife beforehand. He very carefully mapped this whole thing out.” In Donatelli’s court, Hvizda was dressed in a white t-shirt and green prison pants. He appeared not to have shaved recently, and remain expressionless as two officers testified about the facts surrounding his wife’s case. He said little to his attorneys, and was led in and out of the small courtroom in handcuffs and shackles by deputy constables. The body of Kimberly Hvizda, 37, who lived with her four children in East Brandywine at the time of her death, was found lying in the parking lot of the Wawa where she worked on Ticonderoga Boulevard in the village of Eagle, less than a half mile from the Upper Uwchlan Police Department and not far from the couple’s former home on Byers Road. The knife that her husband allegedly used to kill her was still protruding from her stomach when police responded to the scene and found her. Chester County Detective Kenneth Beam, who helped process the scene for Upper Uwchlan police, testified that the knife used in the killing was a Winchester Bowie knife with an 8 3/4 inch long blade. He produced a duplicate knife for Donatelli, displaying it on the stand during his testimony. The actual murder weapon is still being processed at the State Police Crime Lab. Beam, testifying about the results of the autopsy conducted by Dr. Ian Hood after Kimberly Hvizda’s death, said she had two stab wounds in her upper chest, a slash on the throat, and a wound in the stomach. According to police, Kimberly Hvizda was working the night shift at the store when her estranged husband, from whom she had filed for divorce a year ago, arrived shortly before 11 p.m. to meet her to discuss some letters that she was going to turn over to him, as they had arranged several days before. Hvizda later told police that he had all along planned to kill her then, and that he had written about it in a blue notebook that he kept in a desk at his home on Byers Road. He had purchased the hunting knife at a sporting goods store in Langhorne, Bucks County, where he had gone the day before to visit a friend. He said that when his wife reached into her van to get the letters, she turned towards him and he began stabbing her. He dropped the knife, its sheath, and the letters after he had finished with her, got in his car which was parked around the rear of the Wawa, and drove to the Upper Uwchlan police station, across Route 100 from the landmark Eagle Tavern. There, he approached Cpl. Joseph Carr, who knew Hvizda from previous calls to the family home for reports of domestic disturbances. “How can I help you?” Carr asked. “I just killed my wife,” Hvizda reportedly answered. “What? How did you kill her?” the stunned Carr asked. “With a knife,” Hvizda reportedly said. According to Hogan, police spent several nervous minutes from the time Hvizda came to the police station and reported the murder until they were able to get to Kimberly Hvizda’s home in East Brandywine and determine what had happened to her children. “We were relieved to find that they were safe,” he said Tuesday. Hogan said Kimberly Hvizda’s family is in the process of determining who will care for her children, ages 2 though 15. An account has been set up for donations to help the children’s future finances. Contributions can be sent to The Hvizda Children, C/O TD Bank, 2200 Garrett Road, Drexel Hill, PA 19026 Hvizda is being held without bail in Chester County Prison.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

By Michael P. Rellahan
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Posted: 05/10/12 09:27 am

WEST CHESTER — The Upper Uwchlan man who admitted to stabbing his wife to death in a Wawa parking lot pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree murder charges, avoiding the possibility of facing the death penalty in his case.

James John Hvizda, wearing a white prison T-shirt and green prison pants, told Chester County Court President Judge James P. MacElree II that he had been planning the murder of his estranged wife, Kimberly Hvizda, for days before he met her at the Wawa, where she worked the night shift. He even wrote numerous entries about his plans in a journal he kept, he said. “How many times had you actively though about killing your wife?” MacElree asked Hvizda, a former minor league baseball player. “It was a constant thought in that period,” Hvizda answered. District Attorney Thomas Hogan, who prosecuted the case with Assistant District Attorney Michelle Frei, told MacElree that his office had intended to file notice that it would seek the death penalty on Thursday, the mandated deadline for such a decision. He said Hvizda was offered the change to enter a guilty plea in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table. Hogan said that should Hvizda attempt to withdraw his plea, the plea agreement states that his office would have the right to go back to court and file notice of its intention to seek the death penalty. A guilty plea of first-degree murder carries with it a mandatory term of life in prison. Hvizda, 45, who was accompanied by his attorneys, Assistant Public Defender Peter Jurs and First Assistant Public Defender Nathan Schenker, will be formally sentenced within 30 days. On March 25, Kimberly Hvizda was stabbed multiple times in the heart and throat by her husband, from who she had been granted a protection from abuse order last fall. The hunting knife that James Hvizda purchased at a sporting goods store the day before was left in her body as she lay in the Wawa parking lot next to her car. Hvizda, who lived nearby on Byers Road, left the scene and walked across Route 100 to the Upper Uwchlan Police Department. When he walked into the station, he told the officer on duty that he had just killed his wife. This morning James John Hvizda appeared in court to enter a guilty plea to first-degree murder charges in the slaying of his estranged wife in a Wawa parking lot in March. Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said that if Hvizda had not entered the plea his office would have filed a death penalty notice tomorrow. The body of Kimberly Hvizda, 37, who lived with her four children in East Brandywine at the time of her death, was found lying face down on March 25 in the parking lot of the Wawa where she worked on Ticonderoga Boulevard in the village of Eagle, less than a half mile from the Upper Uwchlan Police Department and not far from the couple’s former home on Byers Road. The knife that her husband used to kill her was still protruding from her stomach when police responded to the scene. Hvizda’s sentencing will be delayed for 30 days. This story will be updated.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

By MICHAEL P. RELLAHAN
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Posted: 07/19/12 02:21 pm

WEST CHESTER – James John Hvizda, who was to have been sentenced Thursday for stabbing his estranged wife to death in a Wawa parking lot, has asked a Common Pleas Court judge for permission to withdraw the guilty plea he had entered in the case earlier and proceed to trial.

His decision to forego the prosecution’s offer of a life sentence without parole in exchange for not seeking the death penalty came as a disappointment to those who had assembled to see him sentenced, but not as a complete surprise. It had been rumored since last week that he wanted to back out of his negotiated plea agreement. Appearing before President Judge James P. MacElree II in court, Hvizda said he had decided to fight the charges against him and face the possibility of getting the death penalty, which Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan told MacElree his office would definitely seek if the judge approves Hvizda’s request. “I am here to maintain my innocence to the charge of murder in the first degree,” Hvizda, 45, of Upper Uwchlan, a former minor league pitcher in the Texas Rangers system, told MacElree. MacElree questioned Hvizda on whether he understood the risk he was taking in going to trial, and gave him the opportunity to change his mind after hearing Hogan’s intention to make the case a capital offense. But Hvizda was adamant. “I just want to continue to withdraw my plea,” he said. According to authorities, on March 25 Hvizda arranged to meet his wife, 37-year-old Kimberly Hvizda, at the Wawa in Eagle where she worked the night shift. Kimberly Hvizda had left the couple’s home on Byers Road in Upper Uwchlan several months before with her four children, and had obtained a protection from abuse order after Hvizda was arrested by police for lurking outside her new home in East Brandywine. In the parking lot of the store, James Hvizda approached Kimberly Hvizda’s SUV on the pretext of exchanging some correspondence. Instead, he pulled out a long hunting knife he had just purchased a day before in Bucks County and stabbed her in the throat and abdomen. She died on the parking lot blacktop. James Hvizda then walked a half-mile or so to the Upper Uwchlan Police Department on Route 100 and told an officer on duty what had happened. “I just killed my wife,” he said. In early May, Hvizda pleaded guilty to charges of first-degree murder and possession of instruments of crime, saying that he did so to avoid the death penalty, which the prosecution had notified his attorneys it would seek, and to spare his family and friends the burden of a continued investigation. The victim’s family members and friends -- Kimberly Hvizda’s teenage daughter and her father, and the couple who are now caring for her three younger children, Steve and Kim Fuimano of Downingtown -- who had gathered to observe the scheduled sentencing Thursday and tell MacElree the impact her murder has had on them, left the courtroom shortly after Hvizda notified the judge of his intention to withdraw his plea. MacElree said he would set a date for a formal hearing at which Hvizda’s attorneys will argue the motion to withdraw the guilty plea within 10 days. Neither of those attorneys – First Assistant Public Defender Nathan Schenker and Assistant Public Defender Peter Jurs – commented on their client’s decision on their way out of the courtroom, nor did Hogan, who is leading the prosecution with Assistant District Attorney Michelle Frei. Kimberly Hvizda’s divorce attorney, Francis C. Miller of West Chester, who had filed the protection form abuse order on her behalf, said he was shocked and saddened to hear of Hvizda’s intention to take the matter to trial and renege on his guilty plea. “I feel so bad for the kids that this is happening,” he said Thursday. “It’s horrible for them to have to go through all this.” It is not automatic, but the burden of for a person who has entered a guilty plea in a criminal case to withdraw his or her plea before being formally sentenced is fairly low; those wishing to must convince a judge that they have a “fair and just reason” for doing so. Jurs, after speaking with Hvizda for a few moments in court Thursday, told MacElree that his client’s reason is his declaration that he is “innocent on the charge of first-degree murder.” It as unclear whether that means Hvizda will contest the facts of the case, his confession to police, or the other evidence against him, or whether he will instead assert that the killing was a lesser form of criminal homicide – such as third-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter. When Hvizda was brought into the courtroom around 9:35 a.m. in leg shackles and handcuffs by two sheriff deputies, MacElree addressed him by saying that he was unsure where the hearing was going – whether Hvizda was prepared to go forward with the sentencing, whether he wanted to change his guilty plea to one of no contest, or whether he wished to withdraw it all together. Hvizda. Dressed in a short-sleeve white dress shirt, tie, and black trousers, his grey hair trimmed short, said he wanted the third option. There was discussion between MacElree and Hogan about the terms of the plea that Hvizda entered on May 9, and how the prosecution had agreed not to seek the death penalty in exchange for a quick guilty plea and life sentence. He said that it was understood at the time that if Hvizda backed out and asked to withdraw his plea, the prosecution could go ahead and file notice of its intention to seek the death penalty. “We will be” doing that, Hogan told MacElree. “You understand that, sir?” MacElree asked Hvizda. “Yes, you honor,” he answered. The hearing lasted less than 10 minutes. The change is plea is an indication of the erratic behavior that Hvizda has exhibited lately. In the past few weeks, Hvizda has sent letters to a Daily Local News reporter on two occasions wishing to speak publicly about his case and the events surrounding his wife’s death, only to back out each time. On Wednesday, Hvizda cancelled a scheduled meeting with a reporter, saying that his legal situation had changed and it was no longer in his best interest to speak to the media – even though in his letter a few days before requesting a meeting he had stated that he would not be housed in Chester County prison much past his sentencing date, indicating that he would be transferred to state prison to begin serving his life sentence. The evidence against Hvizda is almost overwhelming that he had planned for several weeks before March 25 to kill Kimberly Hvizda. According to authorities and others involved, the Hvizdas had separated in 2011 following alcohol-fueled attacks by James Hvizda. Despite being told to stay away from her new home, James Hvizda had shown up there and defied police orders not to return. He was facing charges in that matter on March 25, when he asked Kimberly Hvizda to meet him. Hvizda went to the Wawa around 11 p.m. With him, he carried a hunting knife he had purchased at a sporting goods store the day before. As Kimberly Hvizda met with her husband in the parking lot near her car, Hvizda stabbed her multiple times, piercing her heart, slashing her throat, and eventually leaving the knife protruding from her torso as she dropped face down to the parking lot pavement. When she did not return to the store, a fellow employee went outside to check on her and found her in the parking lot. Kimberly Hvizda was pronounced dead at the scene. Hvizda, after killing his wife, walked from the Wawa north on Route 100 to the Upper Uwchlan Police Department building. There, he told an officer on duty that he had just killed his wife. In his statement to police later, Hvizda said he had contemplated killing his wife for sometime before the murder, and that he had kept a journal in which he wrote of his plans. Police found the journal at the home that Hvizda and the family had shared before Kimberly Hvizda took her children and left because of her fear of Hvizda’s violent behavior. In accepting his guilty plea in May, MacElree asked Hvizda how long he had been writing about his plans before the stabbing. He said that the first journal entry was March 15, about 10 days beforehand. “How many times had you actively thought about killing your wife,” the judge wanted to know. “It was a constant thought in that period,” Hvizda said. He is being held without bail in Chester County Prison.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I had no clue you could with draw a guilty plea

I didn't either LM, especially when one has accepted a plea deal.
I can't imagine how the family felt when that POS asked to w/d his guilty plea. Sounds like he wants to be in control.

I've never heard of this before. One would think the State would have the final ruling whether to accept this or not. Evidently, the State thinks they have enough evidence (and they do) to take this to trial.

By MICHAEL P. RELLAHAN
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Posted: 08/20/12 06:38 pm

WEST CHESTER – Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan said Monday the Upper Uwchlan man who fatally stabbed his estranged wife in a Wawa parking lot in Eagle is manipulating the system in an attempt to attack his deceased wife’s reputation.

James John Hvizda’s assertion that he is innocent of first-degree murder charges in the death of his wife, 37-year-old Kimberly Hvizda, “is insincere and a matter of gamesmanship,” Hogan told President Judge James P. MacElree in a hearing on Hvizda’s motion. “His own words tell the real reason” that he is trying to withdraw the plea, Hogan said, referring to tapes of telephone calls Hvizda made to friends and family members from Chester County Prison that Hogan played for MacElree during the hearing. “He said I did it. I don’t feel any remorse, and there was no justification.” He simply wants to “tell his side of the story,” Hogan said, as do other spouses who are fighting to smear their former partners in divorce proceedings. But Hogan said his office recognized that a defendant’s ability to withdraw a guilty plea before sentencing is virtually limitless in Pennsylvania case law. All they have to do is utter a few “magic words,” he said. “The court might as well say the defendant just has to say, abracadabra, and there is nothing more the courts can do,” Hogan said in dismay. He suggested that MacElree grant Hvizda’s motion over his opposition, and that the two sides then proceed with preparations for a death penalty trial. Hvizda, 45, is accused of fatally stabbing his estranged wife and mother of the couple’s three children in the late hours of March 25, after planning the crime for weeks. He allegedly walked from the Wawa parking lot where he left her body to the nearby Upper Uwchlan Police Department offices and told an officer there he had just stabbed his wife. In May, Hvizda, a former minor league pitcher with the Texas Rangers organization, agreed to plead guilty to first-degree murder and accept a life sentence without parole in exchange for the prosecution’s offer to drop the death penalty in the case. At the time he entered the plea, he told MacElree that he had been thinking about killing his wife for some time, and that the description Hogan gave of his attack on his Kimberly Hvizda was accurate. But at his formal sentencing hearing in July, he asked to withdraw the plea and proceed to trial, citing his innocence on first-degree murder charges. He repeated that assertion Monday. Hvizda’s attorneys argued that case law allows a defendant in a criminal case to withdraw a guilty plea any time before sentencing by contending in court that they are innocent, with little leeway for a judge to consider factors such as the sincerity of the assertion. “He is saying he is willing to face the death penalty because (he) wants the Commonwealth to prove its case,” said First Assistant Public Defender Nathan Schenker, representing Hvizda. “We really can’t look back at what he did five months ago. We have to look at what he said today. “It is a very low standard, but I think we have met that standard,” Schenker said of the legal requirements to withdraw a guilty plea. Asked by MacElree whether there were any instances when a court could deny a motion to withdraw a plea, Schenker said there were very few. One example is when a defendant said he wanted to see what happened in another case against him before going forward. That was not the case here, Schenker said. Basically, Schenker told MacElree, the only issue before him was whether Hvizda was asserting his innocence. “That, in and of itself, is sufficient to allow Mr. Hvizda to set aside his plea,” he said. Hogan, in presenting testimony from Chester County detective Michael McGinnis, one of the investigators in the case, tried to show MacElree that Hvizda’s desire to withdraw his plea was not because he believed himself innocent. Rather, it was to delay the trial and his possible transfer to state prison, and to try to get his story out. He played tape recordings of telephone calls that Hvizda made from the prison, where he is being held without bail, to his mother and two friends, Lou and Kim Kuebler. “Part of the reason, like, I don’t want to take the plea is because I get a right to speak and I’ll get the, like, the last right to say whatever I like,” Hvizda is heard saying. “I can get some of the story out. I just want people to have an idea of what really happened.” Hogan pointed out that Hvizda, who was going through a divorce from his wife at the time of her murder, would likely be prohibited from talking about his marriage at trial, since it would be irrelevant to the facts of the murder. “At sentencing, he could tell his side. But this defendant is just looking to attack his wife. That is not a sincere assertion” of innocence, he said. Hogan also presented a call in which there is a discussion about conditions in the prison, where Hvizda said he was being held with other maximum security inmates as evidence of his desire to stay in county prison. “It’ a total joke, man,” he said. “It’s like a day camp. Newspapers every day. You’re out of your cell, you’re watching TV. The recordings were made prior to his entering the plea in May, Schenker pointed out in cross examination, and do not include information about any of the discussions he had had with Assistant Public Defender Peter Jurs, who handled the plea negotiations with Hogan and Assistant District Attorney Michelle Frei. MacElree said he would take the matter under advisement and issue a ruling this week. If he grants the motion to withdraw, Hogan said the Hvizda would be arraigned the following day and that notice of the intent to seek the death penalty against him would be filed.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

What a Mess!!

Published: Monday, August 27, 2012

By MICHAEL P. RELLAHAN
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

WEST CHESTER – Kimberly Hvizda’s eldest daughter, at the sentencing hearing for her step-father on first-degree murder charges in Common Pleas Court here on Monday, promised to fulfill the family goal that her late mother had aspired to before her death.

“All she ever wanted was for her children to have a mom and dad that got along for their children,” Elyssa Noel Caruso said in a letter, addressed simply to “Jim” and read by a prosecutor during the brief but emotionally draining hearing for James John Hvizda.

“She only wanted her family to be happy and together,” Caruso’s letter stated. “Now she is gone and her goal will never be achieved by her because of you. I will take the responsibility to make my Mom’s goal be achieved and keep my family happy and together.”

The 15-year-old Caruso, who now lives in Philadelphia with her father, sat in the front row of President Judge James P. MacElree II’s courtroom with her grandfather and members of the family who have taken in her three siblings, as well as friends of Kimberly Hvizda. They watched as Hvizda, 46, of Upper Uwchlan was formally sentenced to life in state prison without parole for the March murder of his wife of 14 years.


Caruso’s letter - in which she recalled the pleasant days of her mother’s marriage and the time her stepfather spent with her and contrasted it with the pain and suffering he put the family through in more recent years – drew tears from those sitting with her in the courtroom and an unusually emotional reaction from MacElree.

The judge, a former Chester County district attorney, stopped the prosecution’s presentation in the sentencing and spoke directly to Caruso, his voice choking once or twice.

“Thank you for writing that,” MacElree told Caruso. “I know how difficult that must have been for you. While it is true that you have been badly hurt, obviously you are also very strong. For your mother’s memory and for your mother’s love, you have to be very strong for your sister and your brothers.”

Hvizda was sentenced after attempting to withdraw the plea of guilty he entered into in May, less than two months after he stabbed his estranged wife in the parking lot of the Wawa store on Route 100 in Eagle where she worked the night shift. Hvizda then walked to the township police department and confessed to the stabbing, leaving his wife die on the asphalt outside her SUV.

MacElree denied his request to withdraw the plea, saying that Hvizda was attempting to manipulate the court system by simply insisting on his innocence without other foundation. The judge cited evidence presented by District Attorney Thomas Hogan, who led the prosecution, that showed Hvizda telling friends and family that he was, indeed, guilty of the crime, but simply wanted a trial to give his side of what broke the couple’s marriage apart.

In a written statement read from the defense table he shared with his two attorneys, Hvizda, a former minor league baseball pitcher with the Texas Rangers, attempted to apologize to Kimberly Hvizda’s family and friends, and stated he would not appeal MacElree’s decision and seek a trial.
“I don’t expect anyone in this courtroom to accept my apology for the events that occurred,” he said, referring obliquely to the fatal attack he had planned for weeks in advance. “I am sorry to take her from you guys with my selfish actions.”

He said that he had originally planned to give an explanation of why he had determined to kill Kimberly Hvizda, but finally decided against it, saying only that he had a character flaw of not being able to forgive those he believed had wronged him in some way.

“It’s not relevant,” Hvizda said. “The facts are the facts. To try to put another spin on it is not relevant. And I will save everyone’s time. I cannot offer anything else other than to put an end to this today, and not drag anyone back into court anymore. I am sorry. That’s all I have.”

The couple met sometime in the late 1990s, after Hvizda had washed out of the Rangers organization, never rising above AA ball for four seasons. She had a daughter, Caruso, from an earlier marriage, and the couple had three children together, Ryan, Nolan, and Grace.

Over the years, Hvizda apparently developed a severe drinking problem, and began experiencing financial, career, and emotional difficulties. In 2011, Kimberly Hvizda took the four children and left their home in Upper Uwchlan, eventually finding a new place to live in East Brandywine. Hvizda tracked her down, and began stalking her, as she filed for divorce. In late 2011, he was caught lingering outside her home after being told by township police to leave. She obtained a protection from abuse order against him, which forbid him from having contact.

On March 25, however, he convinced her to meet him outside the Wawa where she worked, ostensibly to turn over some paperwork. She did not know, however, that he had purchased a hunting knife and that he planned to kill her. When they approached her car, he stabbed her in the chest, cut her neck, and then stabbed her in the stomach, leaving the knife in her body.

Hvizda then walked a half-mile to the Upper Uwchlan Police Department office on Route 100 and told the desk officer what had happened. “I just stabbed my wife,” he said. He was arrested and held without bail after giving a full confession to investigators.

Upper Uwchlan police and Chester County detectives – led by township detective Thomas Jones and county Detective Michael McGinnis -- conducted an intensive and swift investigation, and found diaries that Hvizda had kept in which he described his plans against his wife. Both men, as well as Upper Uwchlan Chief John DeMarco and county Detectives Chief James Vito, attended the proceeding.

Hogan presented three victim impact statements to MacElree for his consideration. In addition to the letter written by Caruso and read by Assistant District Attorney Michelle Frei, who was Hogan’s co-counsel in the case, Hogan read a letter from Kimberly Hvizda’s father, Bob Kleiser.

“I loved my daughter since she was born,” wrote Kleiser, who sat with his arm around Caruso’s shoulder. “I remember carrying her as a baby. I remember her as a young mother. I proudly remember her raising four kids. I will miss her every day.
“Jim Hvizda will rot in prison for the rest of his life, and after that he will rot in hell for the cold-blooded killing of my daughter,” Kleiser concluded. “But none of that will bring Kim back to me or her children.”

The last to appear were Kim and Steve Fuimano, who had taken the three youngest children into their home to raise with their six children. The Upper Uwchlan couple said that they hoped to “love and care” for the children and not to let their mother’s memory die.

“The children were told how their mom watches over them, that she is a bright star shining in the sky,” Kim Fuimano told MacElree. Every night the boys look up at one particular star and say good night to their mom, and pray for her to shine bright so they can see her the next night. We all miss Kim.”

In addition to the mandatory life term for first-degree murder, MacElree sentenced Hvizda to one to two years in prison for possession of an instrument of crime, part of the sentence worked out between the prosecution and Hvizda’s attorneys, First Assistant Public Defender Nathan Schenker and Assistant Public Defender Peter Jurs.

He also capped restitution at $10 million for the family and guardians, although there is little hope of getting anything reaching that amount from what little assets Hvizda owns.

Hogan expressed satisfaction that the case had wrapped up as quickly as it did, five months almost to the day from crime to sentencing.

“This was a fair and just resolution,” he said following the hearing. “The family has shown incredible strength and character throughout the process. I told them this morning that I look forward to watching Elyssa, Ryan, Nolan and Grace grow up in the arms of their strong family.”

Following is the letter that Kimberly Ann Hvizda's daughter wrote to her stepfather, the man who stabbed her mother to death. It was read in open court by Assistant District Attorney Michelle Frei.

Jim,
I never thought I would be writing you a letter for this purpose. I never ever saw this happening in the future. I have learned a ton about you within the last two or three years. I wish that you would have been an adult and went to get help and actually stayed there.

There were times when we had so much fun together, going to baseball games with the family, playing football with everyone, encouraging me to play softball, helping me with homework when I had no clue what I was doing.

Now you have hurt me, destroyed me, and killed me inside. We as a family have had so many great memories, but now all I can remember is the bad and horrible things that you did to hurt us and our family. I remember being scared of you, and to this day I am terrified of you. You caused our whole family to suffer. You killed my mom along with your own children’s mother. The kids could have ended up with strangers for the rest of their lives, but thank God that they have a home now where they are safe and happy with other kids who love them as well as the adults who take care of them. Nothing you say will ever change what you have done. You have hurt so many people that it’s scary.

My mom was such an amazing person. All she ever wanted was for her children to have a mom and dad that get along for their children. She only wanted her family to be happy and together. Now she is gone and her goal will never be achieved by her because of you. I will take the responsibility to make mom’s goal be achieved and keep my family together and happy.

Life is at its worst point for all of us right now, due to YOU killing my mother. She tried to stay strong through all the problems you put us through with your drinking and leaving jobs. Sometimes she even came to me and had me comfort her because her heart was in so much pain because of what you said and did to her. Ryan, Nolan and Grace have a beautiful and an amazing family to live with, I am moving to Philly with my dad, but everyone will have to suffer through all the horrific memories.

My mom meant so much to everyone, especially me. Ryan, Nolan and Grace will have pretty much no memory of their mother or father. Thanks to you I will be the one telling them all about our amazing mother. Luckily for me, I have many supportive friends and family members to help me when I am feeling down.

My mother will never be there for me in the future. She will miss all of the teen drama. She will miss me going off to college. She will miss me getting married, having children, her being a grandmother. She won’t be there for any of it. I have never been so heart-broken in my life.

Rest in Peace: Kimberly Ann Kleiser Hvizda (our mother)

Sincerely,

Elyssa Noel Caruso (your stepdaughter)

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

This is so sad!!

OMG!!!

Kim Hvizda’s children deserve a chance to be happy and together

Thursday, August 30,2012

Despite his career as a professional baseball player in the 1990s and his minor brush with the law in late 2011, we have never heard of James John Hvizda until the morning of March 26, when Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan announced that he had been arrested and charged with the murder of his estranged wife, Kimberly Hvizda.

We fervently hope that the last we hear of or from Hvizda will be the statement he read at his sentencing hearing in Common Pleas Court on first-degree murder charges in which he promised the friends and family of his victim that he would spare them further grief by forgoing his right to appeal the sentence of life in prison without parole that President Judge James P. MacElree imposed on him. We want him to stay away, although we feel assured that we will not be able to keep the awful deed he surely committed entirely from our thoughts.

Hvizda, as authorities established in an efficient and tight investigation, plotted to kill his wife for weeks ahead of her eventual murder. It appears that he was angered to the point of violence for the courage and independence she showed in leaving what had become for her a brutal and destructive marriage. Hvizda had descended into an alcoholic stupor, and was running up burdensome financial obligations and a string of failed employment opportunities. He began taking those failures out on his wife and the mother of his three children.

Kimberly Hvizda, by all accounts, wanted her four children to be happy, safe, and loved. She left the Upper Uwchlan home that was becoming a warzone, and eventually made her way to East Brandywine. She worked two jobs to support her family, one of which was at the Wawa in Eagle where Hvizda tracked her down and stabbed her to death, leaving her body in the parking lot.

The prosecution was able to wrap up the case against Hvizda in short order, promising to forego the very real possibility of winning a death penalty sentence against him in exchange for his guilty plea to first-degree murder charges. When he attempted to back out of that agreement by withdrawing his plea, MacElree blocked the move by saying he did not appear to be sincere in asserting his innocence. It was that decision that observers said would be most likely to give Hvizda reason to appeal, and leaving open the possibility that he would take his case to trial and put Kimberly Hvizda’s family through the trauma associated with such proceedings. We understand MacElree’s frustration with case law that seems to favor those defendants who want to “game” the system, but believe in the old legal maxim that “hard cases make bad law.”

As we have noted here before, there are times when the younger of our community are best at putting matters in true perspective. That is the case with 15-year-old Elyssa Caruso, Kimberly Hvizada’s eldest child, who penned a clear-headed yet emotional tribute to her fallen mother and a denunciation of the hate that ended her life.

“She only wanted her family to be happy and together,” Caruso’s letter stated. “Now she is gone and her goal will never be achieved by her because of you. I will take the responsibility to make my Mom’s goal be achieved and keep my family happy and together.”

We hope her goal is achieved. Should our readers wish to help, there is still time to donate to the fund established to help Kimberly Hvizda’s children. Contributions can be made to the Hvizda Children Fund, c/o T.D. Bank, 2200 Garrett Road, Drexel Hill, PA 19036

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]