Cop killer gets life

Jennifer Wright has an article in the Philadelphia Daily News about a cop killer going away:

No remorse; that's what Judge Jeffrey Minehart said he heard from Rafael Jones.
Jones, 25, of North Philadelphia, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the shooting death of off-duty Police Officer Moses Walker Jr. in 2012. Walker's relatives and a fellow officer gave emotional testimony in a packed courtroom yesterday morning.
"I pray that you rot in hell," Walker's mother, Wayne Lipscomb (photo, above), told Jones. She asked the judge to impose the longest sentence permissible. "My heart is broken and will never come together again," she said. "We don't know how to live without him."
Jones had agreed to a nonjury trial, and prosecutors, including Jude Conroy (photo, right), dropped plans to seek the death penalty. In December of 2014, he was found guilty of first-degree murder, which carries the mandatory sentence of life in prison.
Walker's shift in the 22nd District had just ended when he was approached by Jones and co-defendant Chancier McFarland on the morning of 18 August 2012.
Walker, a nineteen-year veteran, was shot twice on Cecil B. Moore Avenue near Woodstock Street just before 6 am.
McFarland, 22, testified against Jones during trial, in accordance with a plea deal that includes serving twenty to forty years in prison. He awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to third-degree murder, robbery and conspiracy.
Yesterday, Jones' attorney, Michael Coard, recognized that there wasn't much he could say in light of the mandatory sentence. "I don't want to waste the court's time," he said.
Assistant District Attorney Jude Conroy argued that Jones' criminal past showed that he "refuses to live by the rule of law".
Coard told reporters that his client didn't show remorse because, contrary to testimony given at trial, McFarland was the one who shot Walker. Coard and Jones intend to appeal, and will seek a new trial.
Walker's friend and fellow 22nd District Police Officer Ryan Saunders told the courtroom that Walker was a mentor to him when he joined the force ten years ago.
"At times, I feel like I let him down. I wish I was able to do more to save him," he said, choking back sobs. Saunders, the first responder to the scene of the shooting, had testified during the trial.
Saunders offered comfort to Lipscomb and other relatives, telling them that Walker didn't die alone. "I'm happy that I was the one who was able to be there in the end," he said.
Jones asked the judge for an explanation of the statutes authorizing his sentencing.
"I heard no remorse in your recited request," Minehart said, adding that Jones presumably had no remorse after shooting Walker.
The life sentence carries an additional twenty-three to forty-seven years for several other counts.

Rico says too bad he didn't get the death penalty...