Waukesha — A man charged in the brutal stabbing death of a 21-year-old Waukesha woman in September withdrew his plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease Wednesday.
The attorney for David Wapp, 29, told Waukesha County Circuit Judge J. Mac Davis that a psychiatrist who interviewed Wapp and reviewed records concluded there is no indication that Wapp had a major mental illness at the time Samantha L. Peterson was killed.
Wapp is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in connection with the Sept. 5 slaying and has pleaded not guilty. He is scheduled to go to trial Tuesday and faces life in prison if convicted.
Peterson died after being stabbed and cut 36 times by Wapp, who reportedly snapped when she told him to get out of her car during an argument outside his aunt's home in Waukesha, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing in September.
At the conclusion of that hearing, a court commissioner found probable cause to believe that a felony had been committed and ordered a trial for Wapp.
Wapp's attorney, Gerald Boyle, had filed the criminal insanity plea on behalf of Wapp. Boyle said he believed there could have been some underlying mental illness.
But a psychiatrist hired on behalf of Wapp and a court-appointed psychologist both concluded that the criminal insanity plea could not be supported.
Peterson was found dead about 11 p.m. Sept. 5 in a car parked at West Ave. and Wood St. in Waukesha after someone called 911, police said.
Travis Pavlekovich, who was at the aunt's home that night, testified during the September hearing that Wapp told him he killed Peterson. Pavlekovich said he saw blood on Wapp's hands and shirt and saw the bloody knife used to kill Peterson.
"He said, 'I stabbed her. I killed her.' He said, 'I'm going to prison for the rest of my life,' " Pavlekovich testified. "She told him to 'get the (expletive) out of my car.' He said, 'You sure you want to say that?' . . . He said he flipped out and started stabbing her."
Prosecutor Kevin M. Osborne said Wednesday that authorities recovered a knife and clothing and have obtained DNA evidence from the items that will be presented at trial.
Osborne declined to say whose DNA was recovered from the items but said the DNA was consistent with the prosecution's case.
Milwaukee police found Wapp and arrested him at a motel in the 10000 block of W. Appleton Ave. in Milwaukee about 6 a.m. Sept. 6 at gunpoint as he tried to escape through a window.
Wapp had been out of prison only a few days before Peterson's death. He had been released Sept. 1 and was going to live in transitional housing in Waukesha, where he would have been under electronic monitoring. But there was no bed available, so he was approved to stay temporarily with an adult relative in Waukesha County without electronic monitoring, the Department of Corrections said last year after Wapp's arrest in the slaying.
Wapp has a juvenile and adult criminal record.
In 2003, Wapp was convicted of child abuse-intentionally causing harm and carrying a concealed weapon in connection, according to court records.
He was sentenced to four years in prison and four years of extended supervision in that case.
After serving his prison term, Wapp was sent back to prison for violating the terms of his extended supervision.