70-year sentence in onetime Marine's Camden slaying

Timothy Loper Sr. approached the Superior Court judge in Camden on Thursday wearing a pin with a picture of his son, once a Marine, in uniform.

A member of the court staff asked Loper if he wanted to sit before he spoke about life since Timothy Jr., 27, was fatally shot outside a Camden bar in December 2013. The father chose to stand.

"I haven't slept a full night in a year and seven months. I just can't understand," he said, before trailing off as he tried to hold back tears.

Not long after the brief speech, Judge Gwendolyn Blue sentenced Darrell Crone - who claimed innocence until the end - to 70 years in prison.

Prosecutors said Crone, 33, shot Loper Jr. in the back outside the 20 Horse Tavern at Second and Spruce Streets. Loper Jr., who served in Afghanistan, was at the bar with high school friends. Authorities said he was shot while trying to break up a fight over a woman.

Crone displayed little emotion during the sentencing, other than when he asked Blue to delay it so he could prove he was innocent.

"I didn't murder nobody," he said. "It's on camera. I didn't do anything."

Then Crone turned toward nearly a dozen of Loper Jr.'s family members, including the father, and said: "I'm sorry for y'all's loss." But, he told them, it had nothing to do with him.

Blue told Crone to address his concerns in an appellate court. She rattled off a long list of his previous arrests, which dated back to the late 1990s, on charges that included unlawful possession of a weapon.

"You like guns, sir," she told Crone. "In fact, I'd go so far as to say you love guns."

She called the slaying "senseless."

"The only way to protect society from an individual like Mr. Crone is to incarcerate him," Blue said.

Loper Jr.'s family members occasionally wiped away tears during the sentencing, which began more than an hour late, after a fire alarm caused an evacuation of the courthouse.

Statements from Loper Jr.'s wife, Beverly, and 8-year-old daughter, only identified as T.L., were read by a court official.

"Timothy was taken away from me and my family too early," Beverly Loper said in her statement. She discussed the struggles that followed, such as raising a child as a single parent. "I never imagined being a widow at the age of 26."

Loper's daughter's statement repeatedly referred to Crone as "the bad guy."

"He should not have had a gun," the daughter said. She said she missed most playing in her parents' bedroom with him. "I miss my dad," she said.

Loper Jr., of Pine Hill, served four years in the Marines and later worked as a supervisor for Keystone Industries, a chemical company in Cherry Hill.

Timothy Loper Sr. told the judge his son fought for his country and a better life for his family.

"You have to try to think about what your son represented," Blue told Loper Sr. after he spoke, adding that Loper Sr. "did a nice job raising him."

She then told the father that there was healing power in forgiveness, and that, while the process would not be easy, it would allow Loper Sr. to move on.

"The power of forgiving is for you," she said.

A jury in April reviewed video that showed Crone entering the bar around midnight and leaving a few hours later on Dec. 1, 2013. The video also showed a fight in the parking lot shortly afterward. Prosecutors said gunshots went off during the fight - which Loper Jr. was trying to break up - and that an SUV then left the lot.

A jury concluded in May that Crone had fired the shots and found him guilty of aggravated manslaughter.