DOJ Weekly Highlights Include Life Sentences for Two Murderers, Lengthy Sentences for Violent Criminals

WILMINGTON – Deputy Attorneys General in the Department of Justice secure a number of important convictions, sentencings and other court rulings each week. The Department of Justice will send out recaps of key cases.  Here are the sentencing highlights from the week ending Friday, Dec. 19.

• Deputy Attorneys General Steve Wood and Dan Logan secured a life sentence for Jeffrey Kent, of the 800 block of West 9^th Street in Wilmington after they convicted him at trial of first-degree murder and related charges earlier this year. Kent shot and killed Dewey Lee near the intersections of Eighth and Monroe streets in Wilmington on June 30, 2011.

• Deputy Attorneys General Ipek Medford and Matt Frawley secured a life sentence plus 28 years for Vincent Stallings, 23 of Wilmington, who pled guilty earlier this year to shooting and killing Mohammed Ullah, a clerk at a 7-11 in Glasgow. Stallings was in the process of robbing the 7-11 when he committed the murder Sept. 12, 2012.

• Deputy Attorney General Dave Holloway secured a 19-year prison sentence for Roderick Owens, 29 of the 700^th block of Jefferson Street in Wilmington, who was convicted at trial earlier this year of two counts of possession of a firearm by a person prohibited. Holloway successfully argued for Holloway to be designated as a habitual offender, triggering enhanced sentencing. Owens was prohibited from carrying a firearm due to prior violent felony drug convictions.

• Deputy Attorneys General Periann Doko secured a lengthy prison sentence for Desmond Scott of Wilmington, who had pled guilty to possession of a firearm by a person prohibited. Scott was sentenced to 10 years in prison on the firearms charge, four of which were suspended. He was also sentenced to an additional three years in prison for violating his probation on a previous cocaine trafficking conviction, meaning he will spend nine years in prison.

• Deputy Attorney General Brian Robertson secured an eight-year prison sentence against Raymond Sawyer, 49 of Wilmington. Robertson successfully prosecuted Sawyer earlier this year on three counts of second-degree robbery and had Sawyer declared a habitual offender. Sawyer was convicted of robbing a PNC Bank in Greenville, a PNC Bank in Claymont and Artisans Bank in Wilmington.

• Deputy Attorneys General Melanie Withers and Casey Ewart secured a 12-year prison sentence for Philip Brewer, 18 of Bridgeville. Brewer had previously pled guilty to second-degree carjacking, three counts of kidnapping and four counts of second-degree conspiracy for his role in the March 2013 carjacking and kidnapping of an 89-year-old Sussex County woman, Margaret E. Smith. As part of his plea agreement with the Department of Justice, Brewer cooperated in the prosecution of the three other defendants, and the significant cooperation was reflected in his sentence. He received seven years in prison for his role in the carjacking and kidnapping and another five years for a previous parole violation.