Man gets 18 to 40 years in slaying

Man gets 18 to 40 years in slaying

READING, Pa. (AP) — A man has been sentenced to 18 to 40 years in state prison in the stabbing death of a Philadelphia man last spring.

Forty-three-year-old Raymond Kahlief-Searles Jr. pleaded guilty in Berks County on Wednesday to third-degree murder in the March 7 slaying of 48-year-old Joseph Ashford.

Authorities said the stabbing occurred after the two were ordered to leave a Reading bar following an argument.

The defendant apologized to the victim’s girlfriend in court, saying he knew what it was like to lose a loved one.

Assistant District Attorney Christopher Connard said the victim’s family had been “destroyed by their loss.”

Defense attorney Nicholas Stoumbakis called the sentence appropriate and said it would give his client “time to change his life if he gets out of jail.”