Philadelphia man sentenced in drive-by shooting death

Lawrence Lewis did the right thing.

Charged as the driver in a 2007 drive-by shooting in Southwest Philadelphia that killed Jaquin Lindsay, 18, Lewis immediately told police what he thought had happened, pleaded guilty, and testified for the prosecution in the trial of the alleged shooter, Troy Stokes.

Stokes, 20, was acquitted by a Common Pleas Court jury June 10 and left the city's Criminal Justice Center that day, a free man.

Lewis, 23, was sentenced Friday to a negotiated prison term of nine to 18 years, based on his guilty plea to third-degree murder and conspiracy.

Lewis, a tall, muscular man dressed in black, turned before he was sentenced and faced Lindsay's relatives.

He was sorry, he said, and no one was supposed to get hurt.

"But at the end of the day, I was still in that car, and at the end of the day, you still lost a loved one," Lewis said. "I hope someday you'll be able to find it in yourself to forgive me."

"I do forgive you," called out Annette Burns, Lindsay's great-aunt.

Common Pleas Court Judge Carolyn Engel Temin read aloud from Lewis' presentence investigation report: stable family, no criminal record, no drugs or alcohol use, no emotional or mental illness, a high school graduate who had worked in a nursing home and in his father's cleaning business.

"It's unfortunate," said defense attorney Michael E. Wallace, who said Lewis' family had asserted he "got involved with the wrong people."

"He realized he got himself into something he could not extricate himself from," said Wallace.

Among Philadelphia's 392 homicides in 2007, the Oct. 12 killing of Lindsay, shot about 8 p.m. at 58th Street and Chester Avenue, passed virtually unnoticed outside his pocket of Southwest Philadelphia.

Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore described the killing as the "horrible, outrageous" end to a typical teen feud: "58th Street vs. 60th Street."

Lewis was driving when Stokes allegedly jumped into his car and asked to go to 58th and Chester. Stokes, according to Pescatore, showed Lewis a gun and Lewis told him, "Just shoot it in the air."

But as the car passed the corner, Pescatore said, he fired into a group of about 20 people.

Lindsay was hit in the face and died on the spot, she said.

Lewis testified against Stokes and was "good, very credible," Pescatore said. The problem was that he was the only one.

No eyewitnesses came forward, one prosecution witness had to be brought to court by police on a bench warrant, and three others could not be found, Pescatore added.

Burns made a brief victim-impact statement. She told Temin that Lindsay was her "first great-nephew. It's been a tragic loss for us, really."

"I know he wasn't the shooter," Burns said, referring to Lewis. "The other person who shot was found not guilty; he's walking the streets. My nephew is dead."

She looked at Lewis, paused as if resigned, and added: "He's been in a long enough time."