The Scottsville man who admitted killing a woman and her unborn child was in court Tuesday for sentencing. Thirty-six-year-old Charles Copass will spend the rest of his life behind bars with no chance for parole.
Twenty-two-year-old Chelsea Mahaney was four months pregnant when she was killed in a gruesome attack at Copass’ home in June of 2012. An autopsy revealed Mahaney was stabbed 51 times. The prosecutor was seeking the death penalty, but that wasn’t the sentence the Mahaney family wanted.
"It's too easy," said Diane Mahaney, the grandmother with whom Chelsea lived. "That's the quick way out."
Mahaney came to the sentencing wearing a T-shirt with Chelsea’s picture on the front.
"Chelsea is a part of me and when he took her, he took a part of my heart, and that hole in my heart will never be filled," sobbed Mahaney. "I do have this to look forward to that one day I will be with her."
During the sentencing hearing, Copass made two outbursts when the prosecutor suggested he was not remorseful for the murder. Allen Circuit Judge Janet Crocker threatened to remove him from the courtroom. Copass declined to make a statement to the victim’s family during the sentencing.
