UPDATED: 4.30 p.m.
Matthew White, 34, stared at the jury as they read the verdict they had deliberated on for three days: guilty of second-degree murder, attempted murder, robbery, and weapons offenses.
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Prosecutor Courtney Malloy says White preyed on transgender escorts and robbing them, thinking they wouldn’t go to police because of the nature of who they are and what they do.
"The first opportunity these women had to find the person who committed this horribly violent crime they did: They told the detectives, they worked with the detectives, and as the judge said, they were heard. The system heard them, this jury heard them," Malloy said.
Barry Jones, 32, was fatally shot twice in the face inside a West Philadelphia apartment in January 2017, during one of those attempts, she says.
White told the judge he’s innocent.
Defense attorney Eileen Hurley says the evidence doesn’t match up, and her client plans to appeal.
"We really felt we had a great issue since three of the complainants all described the perpetrator as someone with a tattoo on his face. He has no tattoo on his face," Hurley said.
About an hour before the verdict was read, White cursed at Judge Barbara McDermott to which she said: thank you, Mr. White.
White was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, with additional decades tacked on for the additional convictions.