A man has been sentenced to 12 to 30 years in prison in an eastern Pennsylvania shooting death that authorities said stemmed from a dispute about a boy's text messages to a girl.
The (Allentown) Morning Call reports that 26-year-old Christian Diaz-DeJesus apologized Monday during a Lehigh County Court hearing in which he pleaded guilty to third-degree murder.
Prosecutors said the Oct. 10 killing of 19-year-old Carlos Pascual Richiez in Allentown occurred during a violent clash over the text message.
Police said the defendant, a friend of the girl's mother, had taken the boy's cellphone and went to return it but an argument erupted and he fled. The victim followed in another vehicle but was shot in the head.
Judge Robert Steinberg said "The term senseless doesn't do this justice."
