After trading heated words with a teenage boy over a sidewalk snowball fight, Jose O. Mendez went back to his apartment, returned with a gun, and shot Teven Rutledge in the head.
Mendez, 26, testified at his trial that Rutledge lunged at him with a knife. Yesterday, Common Pleas Court Judge Shelley Robins New said she did not believe his story.
Robins New then sentenced Mendez to the maximum: 13 1/2 to 27 years in prison. Mendez killed Rutledge on Feb. 24, 2008, the boy's 15th birthday.
"This is a case in which an adult . . . brought a gun to a snowball fight," the judge said. "Mr. Mendez, you ended this victim's life on his birthday for no reason."
A knife was found at the scene, in the 4800 block of D Street in Feltonville. But witnesses said Rutledge, who was standing on rowhouse steps, never pulled the weapon on Mendez, who fired from the street.
Assistant District Attorney Deborah Watson-Stokes said that in any case, Mendez had "ample opportunity to avoid this incident."
"He was safe, secure, in his home. He went out there with a loaded weapon because he was infuriated," she said. "Children are going to behave like children, and adults have a responsibility to behave like adults."
Mendez apologized to Rutledge's family yesterday, but again said he acted in self-defense.
"Only God knows the truth," Mendez said. "I'm not a monster. I'm not the snowball killer. My life was in danger, and I protected myself."
In October, a jury apparently gave some credence to Mendez's testimony, finding him guilty of voluntary manslaughter instead of murder.
Mendez's attorney, Lee Mandell, said he would appeal the sentence.
"I am very distressed by this sentence," he said. "It's very clear this judge didn't accept what the defendant said, even though the jury did."
Rutledge, the youngest of six, was a special-needs student with attention-deficit and bipolar disorders, said his stepfather, Keith Wilson, who raised him from age 2.
Wilson said that Teven had been a difficult child and that the family moved to Philadelphia from Boston for better schools. Teven had been performing well in class and said he wanted to be a police officer, Wilson said.
Teven's death shattered the family. Wilson and Teven's mother, Alisha Rutledge-Wilson, have separated. Wilson said he has lost 55 pounds, has trouble sleeping, and has not been able to work.
