By Tom Jackman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 17, 2006

A man who pistol-whipped, stabbed and shot a Fairfax County couple last year, killing the man and permanently scarring the woman, was sentenced by a judge yesterday to life plus 23 years in prison.

Anthony Lee Burdis, 39, pleaded guilty in June to first-degree murder in the killing of John M. Shirley, 53, a construction superintendent who lived in the Falls Church area. He also pleaded guilty to malicious wounding for the attack on Mallori Scott, 40, his ex-girlfriend, whom he stabbed in the neck and shot in the head at close range.

The attack occurred inside Scott's apartment in the Fair Lakes area. Prosecutors said Scott and Burdis had lived together in the apartment, but broke up six weeks before the night of Nov. 3, 2005. Earlier that night, Scott and Burdis met and Scott got her apartment key back.

But surveillance cameras captured Burdis then going to a Wal-Mart and buying gloves and other tools he would need to break into the apartment. Then he smashed a window at Scott's apartment and lay in wait, said Deputy Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Raymond F. Morrogh.

"He was preparing to go on a killing rampage," Morrogh said.

Scott testified at a preliminary hearing that when she and Shirley arrived at her apartment about 10 p.m., Burdis confronted them with a gun. The pair tried to run, but Burdis caught them and hit them both in the face with the gun.

Minutes later, when Burdis put the gun down, Scott said she pushed the gun toward Shirley and ran upstairs and called 911. She heard a struggle and three gunshots. In addition to Shirley's gunshot wounds, Morrogh said, he was stabbed 19 times.

Burdis then went upstairs, found Scott and shot her in the side of the head, but the bullet only grazed her. He then stabbed her in the chest and neck, causing permanent damage to her lungs and face.

Scott said the incident occurred on her birthday, and she was returning home from celebrating with friends. She said she reminded Burdis that he had a 6-year-old daughter in Louisiana and that she had a 15-year-old son.

"I begged him on my knees" not to hurt anyone, Scott said. "He showed absolutely no mercy."

Burdis, speaking publicly for the first time, said quietly, "I'm sorry for the pain that I've caused, to the Shirley family and Mallori." His attorney said he had no criminal record.

State sentencing guidelines call for between 24 and 40 years in prison on the murder charge. Fairfax Circuit Court Judge M. Langhorne Keith said the guidelines did not account for "the viciousness and senselessness of the crime" and thus were not appropriate. He imposed a life sentence for murder, 20 years for malicious wounding and three years for use of a gun during a felony, to be served consecutively.