JACKSON, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan man convicted of murder after he was accused of breaking into a home and shooting a woman while livestreaming the attack on Facebook has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Anthony Gelia appears in Jackson County Circuit Court during a sentence hearing in Jackson, Mich., on Wednesday, May 9, 2018. Gelia was found guilty in the 2016 shooting death of 26-year-old Brittany Southwell where he streamed the shooting on Facebook Live. He has been sentenced to life in prison without parole. (Melanie Maxwell/Jackson Citizen Patriot via AP)
Twenty-year-old Anthony Gelia was given the mandatory punishment Wednesday. He was convicted in March of first-degree murder and other charges stemming from the November 2016 killing of 26-year-old Brittany Southwell.
Jurors watched a Facebook Live recording recovered from Gelia’s cellphone showing him kicking in a door and opening fire.
Gelia says he didn’t mean to hurt anyone. But he also told a judge, “I deserve to do this time.”
Gelia’s lawyer suggested at trial that involuntary manslaughter was a more appropriate charge. He says Gelia didn’t know Southwell was behind the door.
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