Jurors in suburban Philadelphia have recommended that a man convicted in the shooting death of a popular musician almost two years ago should spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The Bucks County panel convicted 21-year-old Breon Powell of Trenton, N.J., of first-degree murder in the December 2011 slaying of Danny DeGennaro during a botched home invasion robbery in Levittown.
The Bucks County Courier Times says the jury needed less than an hour Wednesday to choose the life-without-parole sentence over the death penalty.
One juror said the panel believed that shooting the Levittown musician was a "last minute, split-second decision'' and that Powell showed remorse in court.
Powell's mother had begged the jury to spare her son's life. Powell’s father Bruce Peppers said his son was training as a boxer and doubted his son committed the crime.
“I’m so sorry for what happened. But my son didn’t do it,” he told the DeGennaro family.
Defense attorney Keith Williams said his client got mixed up with his co-defendants because he yearned for a brother, and executing him would only add to the pain the crime has caused.
Relatives of the victim described their life with him and what his loss has meant.
“The one thing that can never be taken from us is his music, which will live on,” said DeGennaro’s sister Linda Benedetti while on the stand.
DeGennaro, 56, was found dead inside his family home on Crabtree Drive on Dec. 28, 2011.
DeGennaro died of a single gunshot wound to the chest, according to investigators.
The guitarist had performed with musicians including Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead and Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.
A man said by prosecutors to have been the "mastermind" of the slaying of a musician in his Philadelphia-area home three days after Christmas in 2011 was convicted earlier this year of second-degree murder.
Jermaine M. Jackson, 20, of Trenton, N.J. is serving life in prison for his role.
