Faheem's killer is guilty of murdering pal in '03

A Common Pleas jury yesterday sentenced Kennell Spady - previously convicted of the 2004 killing of 10-year-old Faheem Thomas-Childs - to life in prison for first-degree murder in a different shooting.

The panel on Friday had convicted Spady, 24, of North Philadelphia, of murder in the 2003 shooting death of Makil Edwards, 19.

That August, Edwards, Spady and other men were riding in a van one night with the intention of committing a robbery, authorities said.

During the van ride, Spady and Edwards argued either over a girl or over who was in charge in their North Philadelphia neighborhood, testimony in the trial showed.

Spady then shot Edwards in the back of the head with a revolver. Edwards was left dead in the van and was found by police hours later on Toronto Street near 20th.

On Monday, while waiting outside the courtroom during a break in the penalty-phase hearing of the trial, Edwards' mother, Cecelia Edwards, 40, said her son and Spady "were friends. That's what makes it so bad. That's the hurt part, you know."

She said her son, whose birthday was Monday, had lived with her in the area of 26th Street near Lehigh Avenue.

In asking jurors to sentence Spady to death in Edwards' murder, Assistant District Attorney Michael Barry yesterday said in his closing argument that there are now two mothers whose sons "are not coming home."

Spady was responsible for his own actions and has a significant history of violence, Barry said.

Defense attorneys Gary Server and Daniel H. Greene asked jurors to spare Spady's life.

They presented witness testimony that Spady was brain-damaged and grew up without a father figure.

In announcing its verdict of life in prison, the jury forewoman yesterday said the panel found that mitigating circumstances, such as Spady's upbringing, outweighed the aggravating circumstances, such as his history of violence. The jury took 40 minutes to reach its penalty verdict.

Judge Sheila Woods-Skipper then sentenced Spady to life in prison without parole and a consecutive sentence of 7 to 14 years for weapons and related offenses. When asked if he had anything to say, Spady said: "I ain't got nothing to say."

Last year, Spady and his pal, Kareem Johnson, were convicted of first-degree murder in the Feb. 11, 2004, shooting of Faheem, a third-grader who was walking to T.M. Peirce Elementary School when a gun battle broke out between rival drug gangs. The two had been sentenced to life in prison in the Faheem case.

In June, a jury sentenced Johnson, now 23, to death after convicting him of first-degree murder in the 2002 shooting death of Walter Smith, 39, outside a North Philadelphia bar. *