N. Philadelphia man convicted in pizzeria owner's death

A North Philadelphia man was convicted by a city judge yesterday of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole in the robbery and shooting of an Egyptian immigrant who owned a neighborhood pizzeria.

Cordell Adams, 25, was found guilty after a daylong nonjury trial before Common Pleas Court Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes.

Earlier in the day, Adams rejected a plea deal offered by Assistant District Attorney Brian Zarallo under which he would have pleaded guilty to second-degree murder - murder while committing another crime. That would have carried the possibility of avoiding a mandatory life prison term.

Instead, Adams opted for trial and testified in his own defense, insisting he had wanted only to rob Aly E. Elkaied, not kill him.

Adams testified that his gun went off three times when Elkaied, 44, grabbed his gun hand and the pair went to the floor wrestling for control. Elkaied, co-owner of Carnival Pizza, 3062 N. 23d St., was hit in the liver, a lung, and the heart.

Adams, who lived in the same block as the pizzeria, was subdued by two other pizzeria employees, who wrested the gun from him, hit him on the head three times with the weapon, and then held him with a knife at his throat until police arrived.

Defense attorney Samuel C. Stretton argued that the judge should convict Adams of second-degree murder, saying the gun did not fire until after the struggle with Elkaied had begun.

Zarallo argued that Adams had "no constitutional right to a reset button . . . when it goes bad. That's on you. . . . You don't have a right to have your crime go off without a hitch."

Hughes said she was impressed by testimony that it took 91/2 pounds of force to pull the trigger of Adams' .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol.

"That's a 10-pound sack of potatoes. I know that would hurt my hand," Hughes told Adams, noting that he had pulled the trigger three times.

In sentencing Adams to life in prison, Hughes said she would add a note to his file saying she personally was opposed to any parole or commutation of his sentence.

"You threw away Mr. Elkaied's life and you threw away your life," the judge said. "You'll not get out. You wanted to play the odds. You played them and you lost."