JUDGE

Delaware Man Gets 18 Years Behind Bars for Barbershop Killings

A former death-row inmate charged with killing a man and young boy at a Wilmington barbershop in 2001 has been sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Friday's sentencing of 42-year-old Chauncey Starling came after he pleaded no-contest last month to second-degree murder.

The plea offer followed a judge's January ruling that a defense forensic expert could testify about the adequacy of the homicide investigation.

Starling, who has already spent 16 years behind bars, had faced a May retrial for the killings of 5-year-old Damon Gist Jr. and 28-year-old Darnell Evans.

Starling was convicted in 2003 and sentenced to death, but he was granted a new trial in 2015 because of his defense attorney's mistakes and prosecutors' failure to disclose information about their key witness at his first trial.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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