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Guilty plea in slaying of NBA player's father

A Germantown man has been sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing the father of Brooklyn Nets guard Wayne Ellington Jr.

A Germantown man has been sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing the father of Brooklyn Nets guard Wayne Ellington Jr.

Carl White, 35, pleaded guilty Tuesday to third-degree murder and three gun charges in the Nov. 9, 2014, shooting death of Wayne Ellington Sr, 57.

Police found Ellington about 8 p.m., shot twice in the head, behind the wheel of his red Oldsmobile in the 5200 block of Marion Street in Germantown.

A Common Pleas Court jury had already been selected when White and his lawyer, James Berardinelli, announced that they had accepted a plea deal from Assistant District Attorney Kirk Handrich.

Judge Glenn B. Bronson accepted the plea and immediately sentenced White to the agreed-on term.

Berardinelli said White did not make a statement before sentencing. Ellington Sr.'s sister and mother made victim-impact statements to the judge.

Ellington Jr., was a star basketball player in high school at Episcopal Academy and at the time of the shooting played guard for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Berardinelli said White rejected the same plea deal from the prosecutor's office earlier, but reconsidered late Tuesday afternoon after a jury was selected.

On Friday, Bronson denied a defense motion to suppress White's statement to homicide detectives about Ellington's killing.

The motive behind the shooting has been unclear, and Berardinelli said it had never been disclosed publicly.

Handrich said he still knows nothing about what, if any, prior relationship the two men had or if some event created bad blood.

Handrich said a witness who was speaking to White right before the shooting said White saw Ellington's car and said, "There goes old head."

After the shooting, Handrich said, White remarked to the witness: "Old head is tripping."

Police initially attributed the shooting to an argument between the men.

At a preliminary hearing in February 2015, a neighbor of White's testified that she saw Ellington's car going down the street and then saw White call, "Yo," and walk over to the car.

The neighbor said she heard two gunshots and saw a muzzle flash. Ellington's car drifted, striking several parked cars before coming to a stop, the neighbor said.

jslobodzian@phillynews.com

215-854-2985 @joeslobo

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