Billingsley pleads guilty to attempted murder in Upton burglary

A man accused of brutally attacking a West Baltimore couple during a burglary pleaded guilty to those charges Monday morning.

Jason Billingsley pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder and gross negligence murder on the day his trial began in Baltimore District Court.

Billingsley, 33, is Also charged with murdering local tech entrepreneur Pava LaPere days after the break-in and is scheduled to go on trial Friday. He is expected to plead guilty to murder in the case, said James Bentley, spokesman for the Baltimore City Attorney's Office.

Billingsley claims he broke into the West Baltimore home of Jonte Gilmore and April Hurley last September and held the couple hostage. Billingsley is accused of sexually assaulting Hurley, slitting her throat, then dousing the couple with gasoline and setting them on fire.

WYPR names the victims of the attack because they came forward with their stories publicly.

Hurley addressed in court and said her life since the attack had been “nothing short of devastating.” She described sleepless nights and nightmares.

The brutal death of LaPere in her Mount Vernon apartment and the burglary in Upton heightened fears about crime in the city and sparked a nationwide seek for Billingsley before police arrested him at a train station in Bowie.

Billingsley was sentenced in 2015 to 30 years in prison for a first-degree sex offense, with all but 14 years suspended and five years probation. In 2022, Billingsley was released from prison due to reduction or “good time” credits.

The realization that Billingsly was released before the end of his full sentence sparked a public outcry after his recent crimes, including from Mayor Brandon Scott, who called for reform of the abatement system to be a priority for the 2024 legislative session in Annapolis.

This law, called the Pava LaPere Act, passedand starting this October, first-degree sex offenders will no longer be eligible for sentence reduction credits. Criminal justice reform advocates fear the law will have unintended consequences.

“These types of good time credits motivate inmates to behave better while incarcerated,” David Jaros, director of the Center for Criminal Justice Reform at the University of Baltimore, said in an interview earlier this year. “This means they are less of a threat to correctional officers and also less likely to bully and traumatize other inmates they encounter while incarcerated.”