Erie courts deal with COVID-19 backlog: 9 homicide trials in 6 months goerie.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from goerie.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Defense contended defendant acted in a rage and is guilty of third-degree murder or manslaughter
Jury deliberations started on Wednesday afternoon with verdict Thursday afternoon
A jury had to decide two basic questions as it deliberated over the fatal stabbing of a 20-year-old Erie woman in May 2019.
Did the defendant, Kevin G. Hicks-Franklin, 23, intend to kill the victim, Starleisha Smith, the best friend of his girlfriend, making Hicks-Franklin guilty of first-degree murder?
Or did Hicks-Franklin kill Smith in a rage because his girlfriend was breaking up with him, and he never formed the level of intent necessary for the prosecution to prove a premeditated slaying?
Brown was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to a mandatory life term with no parole
Brown has served more than 44 years, and on Friday was resentenced to 42 years to life, and made eligible for parole, in light of U.S. Supreme Court rulings on juvenile lifers
The last of Erie County s nine juvenile lifers is on a path to leave state prison, possibly in the near future.
Allen J. Brown, 61, got a life sentence with no parole for fatally shooting an Erie man with a rifle in 1976, when Brown was 17.
He was resentenced in Erie County Court on Friday to 42 years to life.
Erie County District Attorney Jack Daneri blamed the thefts on a gambling habit.
He said the defendant, Rebecca A. Leone, 36, crafted a sophisticated plan to take the money by writing school district checks to herself and then went out to play the slots at the casino, referring to Presque Isle Downs & Casino in Summit Township. She gambled it away, Daneri said at Leone s sentencing on Friday.
He also called her a sociopath because of how much she stole and the lengths she went to carry out the crimes for so long.
The prosecution s points prevailed.
Erie County Judge John J. Mead followed Daneri s recommendation and sentenced Leone to state prison. Mead gave her two to 13 years.