Tucker Cipriano Update: Mitchell Young, Cipriano accomplice, convicted of murder in family baseball bat beating
(CBS) OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich.- Mitchell Young, who was accused with his acquaintance Tucker Cipriano in the April 2012 baseball bat beating death of Cipriano's adoptive father, was found guilty of first-degree murder Friday, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Tucker Cipriano pleaded no contest to felony murder last week. Both he and Young will be sentenced to life in prison without parole on July 24, according to the newspaper.
On April 16, 2012, the two men broke into the Cipriano family home to steal money to buy drugs while they were both high on synthetic marijuana.
The attack left 52-year-old Robert Cipriano dead, and his 51-year-old wife, Rose, and 18-year-old son Salvatore critically wounded. Two of the Cipriano children, Salvatore's twin, Tanner and now 9-year-old Isabella, avoided injury by hiding during the robbery, the Free Press reported.
The paper said that the jury, comprised of six men and six women, deliberated for 90 minutes before pronouncing Young guilty Friday of first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree felony murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of armed robbery.
After the verdict was read, Young whispered, "I love you, too, Grandma" to his grandmother. She was the only member of his family to attend the trial, according to the Detroit Free Press.
"We are glad the trial is over and that our family did not have to re-live the horrible experience by having to testify in it," the statement said. "We believe the legal process worked the way it should have with the facts of the case presented. The privacy and dignity of my brother's family was respected and honored," Ron Cipriano, the brother of the deceased, wrote in a statement to the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office, according to the paper.