A judge sentenced a Midwest City teenager Wednesday to life in prison for a home invasion robbery that ended with a woman in the home shooting and killing his stepbrother.
Dewayne Edward Kemp, 17, was convicted last month of first-degree murder in the death of Marquis Lee Patterson.
Kemp and Patterson were both 15 when they were shot by a Midwest City mother after they broke into her home and attempted to steal a flat-screen television.
Patterson was killed, and Kemp was wounded.
Oklahoma County District Judge Cindy Truong followed a jury's recommendation of life for the murder and 10 years for a first-degree robbery conviction, despite the objections of Kemp's attorneys and family members.
“I know he deserves to do time,” said Joyce Thomas, Kemp's mother. “But he didn't try to kill nobody. He sure didn't try to get his brother killed.”
Under Oklahoma's felony murder law, a person committing a felony can be charged with first-degree murder if an accomplice dies during the crime.
“I just don't understand the law,” Kemp's father, Charles, said after sentencing. “There's something wrong with it.”
Kemp's attorney, David Bedford, told the judge he intends to appeal the conviction and file a motion asking for a new trial.
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