Pizza-parlor killer blames 5-foot-4 victim for struggling

[WhiteFeather]

This one is too much and over the top in excuses by Perp, it was everyone's else fault except the Perp's. Even the excuse its the gun fault didn't work.

Can someone explain why the concurrent sentance vs a consecutive sentence?



http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news...truggling.html

Pizza-parlor killer blames 5-foot-4 victim for struggling

Things couldn't get much worse for Cordell Adams in Common Pleas Court yesterday afternoon. Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes had just found him guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced him to life in prison without a chance for parole.

Then he really made the judge mad, after she asked if he had anything to say for himself.

Adams, 25, who was convicted of the murder and robbery of North Philadelphia pizza-shop owner Aly Elkaeid, seemed to suggest that he had pulled the crime to support his 7-year-old daughter.

"Don't you ever tell me you have to steal to support your family," she scolded him.

"That's an excuse. You're smart, Mr. Adams, you could have made other choices," continued Hughes, who said that her father, despite lacking a formal education, raised five children by working hard.

"Busting your back ain't never hurt anybody," she added.

Adams, who waived his right to jury trial, was the masked man who entered Carnival Pizza on June 2, 2008 at around 11 p.m. - closing time.

The shop, on 23rd Street near Clearfield, is a block from Adams' home.

"I went to the store on the spur of the moment to rob the store . . . and it went another way," Adams said on the witness stand.

He told his defense attorney, Sam Stretton, that he wanted only to rob the place, where he had eaten before and even knew the owner's name, and never intended to hurt anybody.

When he pointed his silver semiautomatic pistol at Elkaeid, 44, and asked for money, the owner first said, "Take what you want," Adams said, before he attempted to grab for the gun.

Elkaeid and two male shop employees then rushed him, Adams said. "I attempted to flee, and while I'm attempting to flee I'm being hit by a deep-dish pan and I'm rustling and tussling with these men."

In the commotion Adams fell on the slippery floor, he said, and the gun went off.

"Mr. Elkaeid is dead because he didn't simply give you the money and let you go?" Assistant District Attorney Brian Zarallo asked incredulously.

"I would say he is dead because of the struggle," Adams replied.

Hughes said that she did not believe Adams' version of events because his type of gun does not fire easily.

"It takes nine-and-a-half pounds to fire that gun. . . . That's a 10-pound bag of potatoes, which would make my wrist hurt trying to carry it at the grocery store," she said.

"And you fired it at that little man. He was five feet four inches," she said, noting that after the first shot, three more were fired.

Elkaeid, a native Egyptian, was hit by at least three slugs in the chest and shoulder, Zarallo said.

While he lay dying, his friends and employees overpowered Adams, sat on him and held a knife to his neck until police arrived.

Adams was also sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison, to be served concurrently, for one count of robbery, and was ordered to pay $1,535 in court costs and $4,000 to his victim's widow for funeral expenses.

[wa3ra]

Asswipe...can't be me...I'm a victim.


Normally, I hate concurrent sentences, but in this case, it is redundant, so...

[firstkings18]

So his defense is that the gun went off accidently, and then, what? It went off three more times when he was trying to make it stop?

The judge sounds fairly intelligent. I like that she recognized a 9.5 lb. trigger doesn't pull itself. Maybe i'm setting the bar low, but i haven't been overly impressed by mankind lately.

[Minor Threat]

The only way this story would be better is if they added another sentence to the story, something like this ......

Immediately after he was found guilty, the defendent was taken out behind the court house & hung.

[Brick]

The only way this story would be better is if they added another sentence to the story, something like this ......

Immediately after he was found guilty, the defendent was taken out behind the court house & hung.

Agree, only instead of behind the courthouse it shouild be in front of the courthouse in the town square.

[cgbudde]

The only way this story would be better is if they added another sentence to the story, something like this ......

Immediately after he was found guilty, the defendent was taken out behind the court house & hung.

How can you say that. He is just a misunderstood child who was trying to do right for his child. We should have a talk with him, help him over his grief of accidently killing a good friend of his. As a matter of fact we should make sure he can tell his victim he is sorry. And as a good citizen I will even help him go to his victim, but first he will be beggin me, no make that crying to end his life. Do these criminals really think that we are stupid enough to believe their pile of crap.

[stephpd]

Considering that he got a life sentence without any possibility of parole the other charges seem to make no difference. Concurrent or consecutive, it doesn't seem to make much difference in this case. It's not like they plan on keeping the corpse in the cell for an additional 10-20 years.

[rady8um]

Considering that he got a life sentence without any possibility of parole the other charges seem to make no difference. Concurrent or consecutive, it doesn't seem to make much difference in this case. It's not like they plan on keeping the corpse in the cell for an additional 10-20 years.

No, but it is a perfect "FUCK YOU" to the scumbag. Think about hearing you are getting a life sentence plus twenty years in jail. He would get to think about that every day for the rest of his worthless life.

[XD40coyote]

He should have committed his murder in Baltimore and then asked for a jury trial. Baltimore is known for juries sympathizing with "poor lil pooky" and finding murderers with evidence stacked against them to be not guilty.

[NY Refugee]

Obama will give him a pardon, and then send the justice dept. after the employees that violated his civil rights by holding him against his will after the "accident" with the people hating gun.