Media Inquiries:
Kathleen Lucas, Executive Director,
Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
717-236-4840
YORK, PA, December 18, 2023 – Today, the York County District Attorney dismissed murder charges against Noel Matos Montalvo after the PA Supreme Court overturned his 2003 conviction and death sentence for the brutal murders of Miriam Ascencio and Nelson Lugo. Numerous DNA tests and forensic reanalyses over the past two decades have all excluded Noel Montalvo as a participant in the 1998 double homicide.
The following quote can be attributed to Marshall Dayan, Chairman of the Board of Directors at PADP. “I represented Noel Montalvo for many years as we prepared for federal habeas corpus proceedings. Mr. Montalvo steadfastly maintained his innocence. I believed him. As one of his attorneys, however, my obligation was to objectively analyze the Commonwealth’s evidence against him to advise him of what might be presented to establish his guilt. There was virtually nothing there. That he was awarded a new trial and ultimately had homicide charges dismissed is no surprise. The shocking reality is that he was convicted in the first place when the Commonwealth had virtually no evidence against him. His original conviction evidences the arbitrariness, if not the discrimination, inherent in our criminal legal system, and in particular in our capital criminal legal system.”
The following quote can be attributed to Kathleen Lucas, Executive Director of Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. “This is the 12th death row exoneration in Pennsylvania. If we don’t end the death penalty, we may well execute an innocent person. I was there when Rep. Chris Rabb’s bill to end the death penalty, HB999, passed the House Judiciary Committee on October 31, 2023. I will be there when it passes the full House.
Since 1976, Pennsylvania has exonerated twelve men, it has carried out the execution of three men, all of whom gave up their rights to appeal. Noel Montalvo’s brother, Milton Montalvo, moved from Puerto Rico to York County in 1995, with his wife, Ms. Ascencio. In March 1998, Milton and Ms. Ascencio separated. On April 18, 1998, friends and family overheard Milton arguing with Miriam. That evening, Ms. Ascencio and her paramour, Mr. Lugo, returned to her apartment together. Later, neighbors heard Milton’s voice, glass breaking, and loud noises, including a thud and the sound of something being dragged. A neighbor summoned police in the morning, who found Mr. Lugo deceased on the kitchen floor, his fingers nearly severed, a lipstick inserted in his mouth, and fatally stabbed in the chest. They found Ms. Ascensio deceased in the bedroom with a broken nose, stab wounds to her eyes, her head nearly severed from her body, her underwear around her face, and a high-heeled shoe under her buttocks. Pennsylvania State Police conducted forensic testing on more than 70 items found at the crime scene; two items contained traces of Milton’s blood, as well as Milton’s blood on a broken windowpane, and a hair collected from Mr. Lugo’s hand that belonged to Milton. No blood, hair, fingerprints, or fiber evidence linked Noel to the murder scene – at the time of trial or at any time during ongoing forensic testing over the past two decades. At trial, the prosecution relied on testimony from a witness who ultimately gave conflicting statements under oath in various proceedings, conflicting with their own accounts and with that of other witnesses favorable to Noel’s version of events, and the witness even testified that a detective forced them to give a false statement about Noel’s role in the murders.
Police arrested Milton in Florida in 1999, and in February 2000, a York County jury convicted him of two counts of first-degree murder and burglary and sentenced him to death. Detectives identified Noel as a suspect based on statements of the would-be discredited witness and eventually located him in New Jersey in 2002. In March 2003, a York County jury convicted Noel of first-degree murder for the death of Ms. Ascencio, second-degree murder in the death of Mr. Lugo, conspiracy to commit murder, and burglary.
In 2019, now-retired Judge Michael Bortner of the York County Court of Common Pleas vacated Noel’s first-degree murder conviction and granted a new trial because the original trial judge provided incorrect instructions to Noel’s jury, directing them to find him guilty if the prosecution did not prove he committed the murders beyond a reasonable doubt and also telling jurors her misstatement was a Freudian slip, suggesting she supported a guilt verdict. Noel’s trial attorney, who has since been disbarred for other reasons, did not attempt to correct the erroneous instructions.
Following an appeal by the York County District Attorney, the PA Supreme Court affirmed and remanded Noel to York County Prison, where he’s been awaiting a new trial.
Although reviewing courts vacated his conviction and sentence on erroneous jury instructions, the lack of forensic evidence tying Noel to the murder scene has remained a pivotal issue. During 2011 state post-conviction hearings examining the evidence presented at trial, defense expert crime scene analyst Bob Tressel testified that the volatile nature of this type of crime scene will always result in a transfer of fibers, hair, fingerprints, and blood from both victims and perpetrators. It’s extremely rare not to find forensic evidence linking an actual perpetrator to this type of violent crime scene. While prosecutors identified DNA and other forensic evidence linking Milton to the scene, in Noel’s trial, they presented no DNA evidence to connect him to the murders.
Since his arrest, Noel has unwaveringly maintained his innocence, and prosecutors tested his DNA multiple times over the past two decades, reanalyzing evidence to see if anything related to Noel has been overlooked. After exhaustive testing and reanalysis, all forensic evidence has excluded Noel as a participant in the murders.
On Monday, December 18, the York County District Attorney dismissed the murder charges against Noel Montalvo, who in turn admitted only to leaving the state with his brother on the night of the murders. Noel Montalvo, now 58, looks forward to returning to his family, connecting with his children, and grandchildren he’s never met, and rebuilding his life after a death sentence and 20 years of incarceration for murders he – and Milton – maintain he did not commit.
Photo credit: York Dispatch
