A Devon man who killed his ex-wife inside a crowded Wawa was sentenced to life in prison

A Devon man who shot his ex-wife at point-blank range during a planned custody exchange of their son inside a Main Line Wawa was sentenced to life in prison Thursday.

Brian Kennedy, 38, was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Stephanie Miller after a three-day trial in January. The jury took less than an hour to reach a verdict in the slaying, which was witnessed by nearly 10 people and recorded by the convenience store’s surveillance system.

Kennedy shot Miller four times in March 2019 inside the Wawa on Old Sugartown Road in Radnor, then fled the scene. Police found him hours later in a nearby park, unresponsive from an attempted overdose of prescription medicine.

In handing down the sentence Thursday, Delaware County Judge Richard Cappelli called the murder “a senseless act” and said Kennedy had saddled countless people, including his own family, with a lifelong tragedy.

And he granted prosecutors’ request to place Kennedy in a state correctional facility as far away from Delaware County as possible.

Miller’s family, including her mother, Carol, offered tearful victim-impact statements about how Kennedy’s actions four years ago had torn their family apart.

They described Miller as a loving, doting mother who was taken from the life of her 10-year-old son by a “coward and a monster.”

“She loved him more than anything on this Earth, and he gave that love back,” Carol Miller said of her grandson. “He’s an innocent child who lives without his mother and father. This is a tremendous hurt for him.”

Kennedy purchased the AR-15 used to kill Miller from a store in King of Prussia 12 days before the shooting, according to trial testimony, and he returned to the store the day before the murder to buy additional ammunition for the gun.

And an hour before shooting Miller, Kennedy searched online for instructions on how to use the specific brand of rifle that he had purchased, according to testimony from county detectives. He also took steps to try to isolate Miller, prosecutors said, including attempting to change the location of the planned custody exchange of their son, which typically happened at the Wawa each week.

Kennedy, in his own statement to Cappelli on Thursday, said no one understood what Miller was truly like, nor the “wrath” he said she had shown him.

“It doesn’t excuse what I’ve done,” Kennedy said. “I wish I was in the right state of mind, I wish I wasn’t pushed into this. But I know, no matter what, I will always regret what I’ve done.”

During the trial, Kennedy took the stand in his own defense, testifying that Miller had been abusive to him as their marriage fell apart because of an affair he had with a coworker. He had purchased the gun for self-defense, he said, fearful of his ex.

But as his mental health deteriorated, Kennedy said, he planned to end his life with the weapon.

He testified that on the day of the shooting, Miller threatened to take his son away from him. That caused him to “snap,” he said, and instead shoot Miller.

Prosecutors cast doubts on that version of events, saying Kennedy’s testimony was not credible. It was clear, they said, that he always intended to kill Miller at their meeting.