A Charleston teenager who stabbed his elderly neighbor to death in 2009 will spend 40 years behind bars for the crime.
Thomas Mallo was just 14-years-old when he attacked 82-year-old Phyllis Phares in her home on Charleston’s West Side. She was stabbed 35 times and her throat slit. Her daughter, Karen Morris, found the victim’s body exactly three and half years ago Friday.
Mallo, who turned 18 on December 6th, was in court Friday for a sentence reconsideration hearing. The teen was convicted of life with mercy in 2010 in a trial by judge. The sentence was 40-years, Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Carrie Webster called it a “violent and vile” crime despite Mallo’s low IQ score.
“The defendant was found to have academic skills of a first grader. He was determined to have the interpersonal and coping of skills of a 7-year-old. And he was found by Dr. Miller to function on a level of a 10-year-old,” said Webster.
Mallo has spent the past three-plus years in juvenile detention facilities. He had a clean record until this past January when Mallo and another inmate at the Salem Industrial Home for Youth in Harrison County allegedly overpowered a prison staff member and attempted to flee. He was placed in solitary confinement for seven months.
Morris, who spoke on behalf of the victim’s family, says Mallo deserves to spend his full sentence in an adult corrections facility.
“If [Mallo] is allowed outside of a controlled environment, he will go back to his old habits and he will be a violent menace to society,” Morris said.
Mallo spoke briefly during the sentencing. He apologized to the victim’s family.
“I just want Mrs. Phares’ family to know that I’m very sorry for what I’ve done,” Mallo said.
After more than two hours of testimony, Judge Webster ruled that despite a horrific home life growing up and a low IQ Mallo does not deserve a sentence reduction.
“[The crime] was so violent and there’s nothing I can find in this record that can convince me that this type of act is less deserving of the maximum allowed by law,” Webster said.
The judge ordered Mallo to be taken into custody of the state Division of Corrections immediately. He will be transferred to an adult facility.