19-year-old takes plea deal in his parents’ murders

A 19-year-old who plotted with his best friend to kill his parents pleaded guilty to murder charges and will avoid the death penalty.

Timothy Chester accepted a deal from prosecutors last week and pleaded guilty to two counts of murder with a deadly weapon and one count of burglary.

As part of the agreement, prosecutors will recommend that Chester be sentenced to two life sentences without the possibility of parole in the Sept. 30, 2009, slayings of Thomas and Carla Chester.

Timothy Chester's trial was scheduled to begin Monday. If he had been convicted by a jury, he could have been sentenced to death.

As part of the deal, prosecutors dropped two charges against Chester: conspiracy to commit murder and armed robbery.

Authorities said Chester plotted the deaths, and then his best friend, Victor Veliz, 20, carried out the killings. Veliz's death penalty trial has been delayed until March 5, 2012.

After his arrest, Veliz told the Review-Journal that he was used by Chester, who always joked about killing his family.

Veliz said that Chester had threatened him with death if he did not participate in the plan.

Thomas Chester suffered two gunshot wounds to the head and his wife suffered from several stab wounds and blunt force trauma.

Prosecutors have described Timothy Chester as a lazy, selfish, high school dropout who became angry with his parents when they asked him to help out around the house.

Defense attorneys have suggested that Thomas Chester, 57, was an abusive alcoholic who often yelled and that Carla Chester, 51, was an overbearing mother who once struck her son with a cane.

A sentencing hearing for Timothy Chester was scheduled for April 25 before Judge Donald Mosley.

Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039.