Second-degree murder conviction in 2008 Pa. slayings
BEAVER (AP) – A Western Pennsylvania jury has convicted one of two men accused of having killed a couple six years ago while their young children were locked in another room, but the defendant won’t face the death penalty.
The Beaver County panel found 27-year-old Devon Shealey of Pittsburgh guilty of 2nd-degree murder late Wednesday afternoon in the murders of Richard and Demetria Harper. They were found bound and shot in the basement of their Beaver Falls home in June 2008.
Investigators said the couple’s two young girls saw two masked gunmen take their parents into the basement and then heard shots.
Thirty-seven-year-old Robert Burgess is slated for trial in October in the case. Witnesses said Burgess was angry because he believed Demetria Harper had kept some money he gave her for marijuana.