A 21-year-old Philadelphia man convicted of killing a “gentle giant” over a pair of $300 Beats by Dr. Dre headphones was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Thursday.
Arkel Garcia was sentenced Thursday after a February hearing was stopped when he and tried to grab the gun of a deputy sheriff.
Jurors convicted Garcia of second-degree murder in the November 2013 shooting death of 21-year-old Christian Massey.
“That’s what we wanted,” Assistant District Attorney Brendan O’Malley told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“We did this with a multitude of sheriffs. There was no emotional testimony. We just wanted to get the sentence, to get justice for Chris Massey, and that’s what happened here.”
Massey, who once attended a special needs school, told police before losing consciousness at a hospital that someone grabbed his new headphones and he was shot after trying to grab them back. The headphones, which cost at least $300, were left on the street.
Prosecutors say Garcia told detectives eight days later that he and two men planned to rob Massey, but he had no idea Massey would be killed.
He said he wasn’t the gunman. Garcia’s lawyer has argued that he had nothing to do with the crime.
With News Wire Services
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