Man gets life term in 1998 slaying

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A man has been sentenced to life in prison following conviction in a Philadelphia murder more than a decade and a half ago that was reopened after prosecutors found a witness who had been presumed dead.

Raphael Stewart, 46, was charged after the November 1998 shooting death of Darris Cuthbert of New York. Authorities alleged that he and a co-defendant believed the victim and another man had robbed their drug house.

Prosecutors said a witness testified against him at a preliminary hearing but then couldn’t be found for the trial, and officials were later told that he was dead. But a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office says the case was reopened after police spotted the witness in April 2001 “on the very corner where the murder had occurred.”

Authorities said Stewart himself couldn’t be found for a dozen years but was finally taken into custody last year. Jurors convicted him today, exactly 16 years after the crime, and he was immediately sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. A co-defendant was earlier convicted in the case.

Defense attorney Joseph Santaguida said the defense had not expected the witness and another witness to testify against his client, who rejected a plea agreement. He said he was sure an appeal would be filed.