PRINCESS ANNE, Md. (AP) - A 19-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison for a fatal shooting on Maryland's Eastern Shore.
Joel Christopher Sutton was sentenced Friday for shooting Jessee Heath nine times in Princess Anne in October 2011. Two co-defendants are already serving jail sentences.
Somerset County Judge Daniel Long called the shooting the most senseless crime he's seen in his more than two decades on the bench.
The judge denied a defense lawyer's request to commit Sutton to a facility for younger offenders. Sutton was also sentenced to 20 years in prison on a firearm conviction and must serve at least five years of that sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
Sutton's father, Jody Sutton, said he believed his son was wrongly convicted.
