Life Imprisonment

Delaware County Court Judge Charles C. Keeler sentenced Nathaniel Purnsley yesterday to life imprisonment without parole for the strangulation murder of a 28-year-old nurse's aide - making no comments to Purnsley during the short hearing. Keeler reserved his remarks for the victim's family, many of whom packed the courtroom during the six-day trial last month. "Nothing we can say can bring back Cynthia Patrick," Keeler told family members. " . . . But as far as you are concerned, justice has been done.

In a September 1990 slaying that outraged the Russian community in the city's Northeast section, emigre Khaim Eydelman was fatally shot on his first day at work delivering bread. Yesterday, two South Philadelphia men, Carnell Grooms and Michael Rucker, were convicted of killing Eydelman, 47, and sentenced to life in prison by a Common Pleas Court judge. "No money, no money," Eydelman blurted, in Russian, as he struggled with a gunman who fired a .38 revolver once into his chest, testified a witness, Gennady Mereshensykge.

Jonathon Edward Perry, 38, one of two men charged in the 1997 slaying of an East Nottingham woman, was sentenced yesterday to life imprisonment without parole, the mandatory sentence for second-degree murder in Pennsylvania. Perry, of Cecil County, Md., dressed in a pea-green sweatshirt and jeans, showed little emotion at the pronouncement of the sentence in a Chester County courtroom. He declined to address members of the Weaver family who appeared for the sentencing. Perry was convicted of helping Roger Lee Mattingly, also of Cecil County, in the robbery of Anna Weaver, 79, at her trailer home in East Nottingham.

Lawrence W. Lavin, the Devon dentist who masterminded the largest drug conspiracy ever discovered in Philadelphia, was sentenced yesterday by two federal judges to 42 years in prison and $240,000 in fines. At a morning sentencing, U.S. District Judge Louis H. Pollak listened to an impassioned apology from the defendant before sentencing the cocaine dealer to a total of 22 years' imprisonment, five years' probation and a $100,000 fine for his role in creating and managing a cocaine ring that distributed 1,000 kilograms, or 2,200 pounds, of pure Colombian cocaine from 1978 through 1984.

A 23-year-old Chester man who drove the getaway car after an execution- style slaying on the streets of Chester has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delaware County judge. Leroy Ponzo, convicted of first-degree murder by a jury in October, was given the mandatory life sentence on Monday by President Judge William R. Toal Jr. Assistant District Attorney John B. Lynch said Ponzo, of the 500 block of Norris Street, was convicted as an accomplice in the killing of 21-year-old Calvin "Butter" Walls, who was gunned down by James Worley in the 600 block of Edwards Street on March 18, 1989.

All Betty and Frederick Adams wanted yesterday was to see the young man who had fatally beaten their son, Freddy, in a turf dispute convicted and put behind bars for life. They got their wish. Common Pleas Court Judge Jane C. Greenspan, after hearing four days of testimony, pronounced the defendant, John Aikens, 20, guilty of first-degree murder and promptly sentenced him to life imprisonment. As the judge announced the verdict, the Adams family and friends shouted in jubilation and applauded.

NEARLY THREE months after the U.S. Supreme Court declared mandatory life-without-parole sentences unconstitutional for minors, the state's Supreme Court justices heard suggestions for what to do about the 500 inmates already serving that sentence. But the only thing clear after Wednesday's 90-minute hearing at City Hall: There's no easy answer. A ruling could take months. The issue is huge in Pennsylvania, which leads the nation - and the world - in the number of juveniles it condemns to prison for life.

Melanie Ann Ray, accused of participating with her boyfriend in the shooting death of another man to steal his truck, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Wednesday in Chester County Court. "She decided to accept responsibility," said her lawyer, Alexander Silow of West Chester. Ray, 26, of Polk in northwestern Pennsylvania, was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, Silow said. She was charged in the Aug. 7 death of Andre J. Dupuis, 32, of Aston.

In the second row, the cop-killer's girlfriend clawed the air and belted out ear-ringing wails. From the standing-room-only crowd in the rear, dozens of men wearing gunbelts and police uniforms whooped and pumped fists in the air like Flyers fans cheering a fight on the ice. In the middle aisle, disabled Police Officer John Marynowitz sobbed loudly, his hand squeezed white by his crying wife's grip. This was supposed to be a Common Pleas courtroom. But a jury's pronouncement yesterday that Borgela Philistin is a first- degree cop murderer evoked a whirlpool of tears, hoots and cheers from the 75 people crammed into the small room.

Expanding the concept of truth in sentencing, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that defense lawyers seeking to prevent a death penalty generally have a right to inform the jury when the alternative of "life imprisonment" really means no parole. The 7-2 ruling casts doubt on the constitutionality of some death sentences in three states - Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia - and is expected to provoke new legal challenges to death penalties in Texas, which leads all states in death-row population.

After several twists and about-faces, the murder case against Stephen Headley effectively ended Tuesday when he agreed to accept a potential 50-year prison term for fatally stabbing a South Jersey woman two years ago. Flanked by family and friends of Nicole Ayres, 22, an ace high school and college softball pitcher, the Southampton man calmly pleaded guilty to the Sept. 13, 2010, attack and told a judge he understood he likely would serve at least 421/2 years without parole. Counting time served, Headley, 30, would be over 70 before he could be released.

NEARLY THREE months after the U.S. Supreme Court declared mandatory life-without-parole sentences unconstitutional for minors, the state's Supreme Court justices heard suggestions for what to do about the 500 inmates already serving that sentence. But the only thing clear after Wednesday's 90-minute hearing at City Hall: There's no easy answer. A ruling could take months. The issue is huge in Pennsylvania, which leads the nation - and the world - in the number of juveniles it condemns to prison for life.

Melanie Ann Ray, accused of participating with her boyfriend in the shooting death of another man to steal his truck, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Wednesday in Chester County Court. "She decided to accept responsibility," said her lawyer, Alexander Silow of West Chester. Ray, 26, of Polk in northwestern Pennsylvania, was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, Silow said. She was charged in the Aug. 7 death of Andre J. Dupuis, 32, of Aston.

A Philadelphia man who was found guilty of carjacking a Russian immigrant in Frankford and killing her five hours later in a Burlington County field was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 40 years Friday. Superior Court Judge Jeanne T. Covert said Lenroy Laurance, 29, would not be eligible for parole until he has served at least 94 years for the Sept. 2, 2009, murder, carjacking, kidnapping, and robbery of Lyudmila Burshteyn. The 57-year-old naturalized citizen was sitting in her parked car, a new Nissan Murano, when four men, including Laurance, approached her and ordered her to lie on the floor in the back of the vehicle.

A Philadelphia man who was found guilty of carjacking a Russian immigrant in Frankford and then killing her five hours later in a Burlington County field was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 40 years Friday. State Superior Court Judge Jeanne T. Covert said that Lenroy Laurance, 29, won't be eligible for parole until he has served at least 94 years for the Sept. 2, 2009, murder, carjacking, kidnapping, and robbery of Lyudmila Burshteyn. The 57-year-old naturalized citizen was sitting in her parked, new Nissan Murano, when four men, including Laurance, approached her and ordered her to lie on the floor in the back of the vehicle.

There's more to homicide rate than location I read the Dec. 30 article "In Camden, a puzzling increase in homicides" and was particularly interested in the chart showing the homicide rates for selected cities. I feel that some additional information should be included when compiling such a list: a breakdown of the demographics. If the statistics about race, median income, unemployment rates, welfare recipients, education levels, renters vs. homeowners, the percentage of single-parent families, etc., were included, it might allow readers the chance to evaluate what could be causing the homicide increase.

Before a courtroom packed with blue uniforms and stone-faced family members yesterday, the man who killed a beloved police officer in a barroom ambush last year pleaded guilty to murder. Before being sentenced to life imprisonment - thus avoiding the death penalty - Solomon Montgomery, 25, apologized to the family of Officer Gary Skerski, 46, the father of two children. He singled out Skerski's wife, Anne, for "taking a stand" and "having the courage" to agree to the plea deal.

A Bucks County nurse charged with murdering her husband with an insulin shot must remain jailed until her trial, a judge ruled yesterday. Jean Saxon is ineligible for bail because Pennsylvania law forbids it for defendants facing potential life sentences, Bucks County Court Judge Mitchell Goldberg said at a bail hearing. A grand jury indicted Saxon, 45, of Levittown, on a first-degree murder charge Nov. 18. She is accused of lethally injecting her estranged husband, Jerry, apparently as he slept in his Bensalem apartment on March 17, 2003.

April 20, 1995, is a day our family will never forget. I received a call at work from my husband saying our nephews, who were police officers, had been shot in Haddon Heights and asking if I would please come home. As I drove, I thought of my nephew John Norcross' words on the night he was sworn in as a police officer: "Don't worry about Richard [his brother] and me, Aunt Barb. Nothing bad ever happens in Haddon Heights. " As we listened to the radio on the way to Cooper Hospital-University Medical Center, there were erroneous reports that three officers were dead, and that the person responsible was holding another officer hostage until she got some makeup or some other outrageous request.