Frank LaPere, the father of Pava LaPere, speaks at a press conference about a new bill in honor of his daughter, Pava LaPere.
Glynis Kazanjian/Business Insider
Pava LaPere, 26, the founder and CEO of EcoMap Technologies, was raped and murdered in 2023. Her death has spurred Maryland legislators to introduce a law to stop violent offenders from accruing early release credits. Her father, Frank LaPere, told Business Insider that it was time to change the justice system.
Maryland lawmakers are fast-tracking legislation to prohibit people convicted of first-degree sexual offenses from earning early release credits following the brutal death of 26-year-old Pava LaPere, a Baltimore-based tech executive who was raped and killed by a violent ex-offender last September.
Authorities said that Jason Dean Billingsley, 32, a repeat offender who was released early due to earned diminution credits, killed LaPere, even though the state denied him parole twice. Billingsley served nine years of a reduced 30-year sentence for charges including first-degree assault under a plea deal finalized by the Marilyn Mosby administration.
“This bill is first and foremost about public safety. If we cannot keep the public safe from the most egregious violent offenders in our society, then we have failed as public servants,” Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said at a press conference in Baltimore on Tuesday. “There can be no disagreement after seeing the tragedy that unfolded here in our city on September 22, 2023. This legislation is urgent and is vital to the state of Maryland.”
The Pava Marie LaPere Act would require the Maryland Parole Commission to approve an offender’s early release.
“It’s about discretion. It means that a person who has committed the most serious acts of sexual violence in our system, [such as] first-degree rape, first-degree sex offense, can only be released if the parole commission agrees,” said bill sponsor Del. Elizabeth Embry (D-Baltimore City), formerly of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office.
“The Parole Commission,” Embry added, “unlike the diminution credit process, can hear from victims, from victim’s families, consider the entirety of the person’s record and history of violence. So what this bill says if you’re going to be released early if you’ve committed horrific acts, it cannot just be through the math of the diminution credits. It means the parole commission has to approve it.”
First-degree rape and sex offense indicate a crime of violence where violence is used to perpetrate a sexual act, Bates said.
Billingsley was released on October 5, 2022, after spending nine years and three months in prison for first-degree assault, threat and force, despite concerns expressed by the presiding judge that the sentence was too lenient. The assault included Billingsley holding a woman at knifepoint while forcing her to perform oral sex.
Pava LaPere.
EcoMap Technologies
After nearly one year of mandatory, monitored behavior, on Sept. 19, Billingsley missed a treatment session, the Maryland Division of Parole and Probation told Business Insider. The same day Billingsley became the prime suspect in the rape and attempted murder of a couple who were set on fire in a West Baltimore rooming house and left to die.
The Baltimore City Police Department made a strategic decision not to inform the public about Billingsley as they tried covertly to capture him. Three days later LaPere was raped and murdered after letting Billingsley into her apartment building, less than one mile away from rooming house location, under the muse that he had forgotten his keys.
While the bill could have been expanded to other crimes, Bates this bill is intended to focus on Pava.
“This bill is a little different because of Frank [Pava LaPere’s father], to be honest,” Bates said. “I have a seven-year-old daughter. I’ll never forget talking to him seeing him well up. I thought about me being a father how it would feel. This one’s a little different. It’s a little more personal in that regard.”
The lawmakers present did not know how many sex offenders are currently in Maryland prisons that the new law would apply to, but Embry said about 10 to 15 people a year in the state are convicted of the two highest levels of sex offense. She also said that sexual assault is “underreported and under-prosecuted.”
Police charged Jason Billingsley with first degree murder over Pava LaPere’s killing.
Associated Press
LaPere’s father, Frank LaPere, joined lawmakers at the announcement.
“Pava’s death is the reason this is happening,” LaPere said in an interview with Business Insider. “State’s Attorney Bates and his crew initiated a conversation with us about six weeks ago, but they already had the bill rolling.”
During the press conference, Frank LaPere fought back tears as he referred to Pava as his only daughter and the latest victim of Jason Billingsley.
“In 2023, just two days before Pava was murdered, two others were violently attacked and made victims of this repeat offender,” Frank LaPere said. “The entire city of Baltimore was held hostage and, as a result, is also a victim. Mayor Scott, you stated emphatically on September 26 that there is no way in hell that he should have been on the street, and yet he had already violated parole and was still on the street. Gov. Moore has stated emphatically on multiple occasions that the system failed Pava. It’s time to change that system.”
LaPere said no other victim should fall prey to repeat and violent offenders like Billingsley.
“In some cases, diminution credits are just not working,” he said.
Billingsley is being held without bail and is due back in court on March 4.
