Sep 15, 2015 2 min read

EASTON – A Nazareth man was convicted of first-degree murder in eastern Pennsylvania in the stabbing death of a friend who was dating his ex-girlfriend.

Jurors in Northampton County deliberated for about 3½ hours Tuesday before convicting Andrew Hess, 25, in the July 2014 death of Richard Parker, 36, rejecting his self-defense argument.

Judge Michael Koury Jr. denied a defense request to delay sentencing and immediately imposed the mandatory life term without possibility of parole. Defense attorney Thomas Joachim, who called Parker’s death a “horrific tragedy” that Hess would live with for the rest of his life, said he and his client were disappointed by the verdict.

Hess testified that he went to see Parker to hash things out, not to kill him, but a struggle began and he was choked until he feared he would pass out.

“As the arm tightened around his neck, as he felt himself unable to breathe, as he feared for his life, he did exactly what the law allows him to do. That is, defend himself,” Joachim told jurors in his closing argument.

Prosecutors called the case a premeditated murder, saying Hess attacked the unarmed victim in the garage of the home, stabbing him in the stomach and back.

“He wanted to ‘talk,”‘ Assistant District Attorney Kelly Lewis Fallenstein said sarcastically to jurors. “He thought 12 o’clock, 1 in the morning would be a great time to ‘talk.”‘

Family members said the two men met seven years ago and soon became inseparable, but a woman who broke up with Hess in December 2013 after the two dated for 5½ months then started dating Parker.

Prosecutors said Hess, covered in blood, repeatedly denied at the scene that he was involved in the stabbing, and then changed his story in later interrogation by state police. They also said he ditched the bowie knife, labeled the “Alabama Slammer,” into a nearby pond.