PITTSBURGH Man gets life term in slaying
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A man who killed his ex-girlfriend after abducting her and their baby from a church service escaped the death penalty when a jury deadlocked over his sentence.
Alvin Starks, 32, of Pittsburgh, will instead get a mandatory life term when he is sentenced March 1 for fatally shooting the 35-year-old mother of three, Andrea Umphrey of Pittsburgh.
"There are some people in this world that understand and appreciate that the deprivation of love can devastate a human being," defense lawyer Lisa G. Middleman said Saturday, after the jury announced the impasse.
"I believe that no one has the right to take somebody else's life -- not the 12 people [in the jury], not Alvin," Middleman said.
Umphrey's relatives and friends shook their heads and sobbed at the outcome.
Starks had been convicted Thursday of first-degree murder and several other charges. Jurors rejected Starks' testimony that the gun discharged accidentally.
Prosecutors presented journal entries showing he threatened to kill Umphrey if she tried to take their 9-month-old daughter away from him.
Starks' brother, Marvin Starks of Lewisburg, said the defendant's demeanor Saturday suggested he wanted to die.
"He didn't want life. He expected himself to die," Marvin Starks said. "He is mentally messed up. It's going to eat him up."
Still, Marvin Sparks said, "I'm glad they spared his life."
Starks abducted Umphrey and the girl from a church service April 18, 2004, and led police on a 50-mile chase from Pittsburgh's West End to the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Monroeville. He then shot and killed Umphrey before police shot and wounded him.
The child was not hurt.