Life sentence in Phila. headphone robbery slaying
PHILADELPHIA -- A man convicted in a Philadelphia slaying over a pair of Beats by Dr. Dre headphones has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Arkel Garcia, 21, was sentenced Thursday after an earlier hearing was halted when he and a deputy sheriff got into an altercation.
Jurors convicted Garcia in February in the November 2013 shooting death of 21-year-old Christian Massey.
Garcia had been set to be sentenced directly after the verdict was reached last month, reports CBS Philly. But the sentencing was postponed after he allegedly grabbed for a courtroom deputy's gun before being subdued, reports the station.
"Witness statements indicate there was a struggle for the sheriff's weapon, that Arkel Garcia had his hand on the sheriff's weapon. And it was quite a struggle," prosecutor Brendan O'Malley told the station.
Massey 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 cost at least $200.
Prosecutors say Garcia told detectives eight days later that he and two men planned to rob Massey and he had no idea Massey would be killed.
Garcia's lawyer has argued he had nothing to do with the crimes.