{"id":1721,"date":"2013-07-22T16:56:23","date_gmt":"2013-07-22T20:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=1721"},"modified":"2013-07-22T16:56:53","modified_gmt":"2013-07-22T20:56:53","slug":"murderer-takes-deal-to-avoid-risk-of-execution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=1721","title":{"rendered":"Murderer takes deal to avoid risk of execution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eric Coxry, convicted of executing Coatesville barber, waives appeal rights\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/strong><\/span>,\u00a0Managing Editor, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Eric<\/a>

Eric \u201cStroda\u201d Coxry agrees to waive his appeal rights in exchange for avoiding the death-penalty phase of his murder conviction.<\/p><\/div>\n

After ruminating over the weekend about the prosecution\u2019s offer to take the death penalty off the table, a convicted murderer needed a couple more hours Monday morning before opting to avoid the risk of execution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Eric \u201cStroda\u201d Coxry, 35, of Philadelphia, who was found guilty by a jury Friday of first-degree murder for the fatal shooting of Jonas L. \u201cSonny\u201d Suber, 33, of Coatesville, on Oct. 21, 2006, signed an agreement that waived his right to appeal his mandatory life sentence.<\/p>\n

Once Coxry reached his decision \u2013 a process he acknowledged was complicated by his difficulty in processing the guilty verdict \u2013 Chester County Judge David F. Bortner moved to the sentencing phase of the proceeding, which included victim-impact statements.<\/p>\n

Jonas Suber\u2019s mother, Donna Suber Pendleton, said she was relieved that Coxry had not been permitted to act as \u201cjudge, jury, and prosecutor,\u201d and she extended thanks to all of the people who had worked to bring justice for her son, who owned Platinum Cuts, a Coatesville barber shop. Her son\u2019s widow, Bashera Grove, said Coxry\u2019s brutal actions, which she witnessed,\u00a0 irrevocably changed her life and well as the life of the couple\u2019s then 5-month-old daughter.<\/p>\n

Grove said her daughter, who is now 7, sometimes hides so she can talk to her father\u2019s photo. \u201cI wish I could meet you \u2026 I wish I could kiss you,\u201d Grove quoted her as saying. Grove also referenced a letter Coxry wrote from prison in which he swore to give his life to Allah if given the chance. \u201c\u2026Obviously he [Coxry] was lost when he did what he did,\u201d Grove said, expressing hope for Coxry and his family that he would make good on that promise.<\/p>\n

Grove said all Coxry had to do was ask her husband for money and he would have given it to him, even \u201cnot knowing him.\u201d According to testimony during the four-day trial, Coxry received $20,000 from Shamone \u201cKadof\u201d Woods, 31, of Coatesville, to have Suber killed. Woods was carrying out a directive from Duron \u201cGotti\u201d Peoples, 35, of Coatesville, who had a grudge against Suber because he had slept with Peoples\u2019 girlfriend.<\/p>\n

In May, a jury convicted Jeremiah \u201cYoung\u201d Bush, 26, of first-degree murder for driving Coxry\u2019s getaway. Bush received a mandatory life sentence; Peoples and Woods are awaiting trial.<\/p>\n

David P. Clark, part of Coxry\u2019s defense team, said the tragedy of the case was exacerbated by Coxry\u2019s troubled history. Clark stressed that Coxry\u2019s background, including being virtually abandoned the first 15 years of his life, was not justification for the crimes but would have been used as argument to the jury that Coxry\u2019s life should be spared.<\/p>\n

Clark said Coxry\u2019s father was in prison when he was born, and his mother, who had \u201ca severe drug addiction,\u201d died in 1998. Drugs were used openly in front of Coxry and his two brothers, Clark said, adding that the dining room table was used to cut crack-cocaine. Coxry, who was often beaten, also spent time at a shelter \u201cthat looked more like a prison than Chester County Prison.\u201d Clark said Coxry, the father of three children, acted as a father figure for one of \u00a0his brothers who went on to become a successful hair stylist.<\/p>\n

Asked by Bortner whether he wanted to address the court, Coxry deferred to his attorney. \u201cI think he said enough,\u201d Coxry said.<\/p>\n

In the end, two groups of about half-a-dozen grief-stricken friends and relatives left the Chester County Justice Center after Bortner pronounced the\u00a0 sentence, which included 20 to 40 years for conspiracy to commit murder and 10 to 20 years for conspiracy to commit burglary, terms that will run concurrently. Bortner then dismissed the seven women and five men of the jury, who had been waiting in case they were needed.<\/p>\n

Deputy District Attorney Ron Yen, the lead prosecutor, said he believed the victim\u2019s family was satisfied with the outcome of the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m shocked,\u201d said Diana Monroe, Coxry\u2019s aunt, shaking her head. \u201cThis is not the child I knew.\u201d Monroe, who traveled to West Chester from Fredericksburg, Va., said she hadn\u2019t had contact with her nephew since his mother died. \u201cI\u2019m very sad, really sad for everyone, including Mr. Suber and his family,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are praying for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eric Coxry, convicted of executing Coatesville barber, waives appeal rights\u00a0 By Kathleen Brady Shea,\u00a0Managing Editor, The Times After ruminating over the weekend about the prosecution\u2019s offer to take the death penalty off the table, a convicted murderer needed a couple more hours Monday morning before opting to avoid the risk of execution. Eric \u201cStroda\u201d Coxry, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7],"tags":[1407,1387,1408,1409,230,1410,1411,1412,1413,1389,1414],"class_list":["post-1721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-bashera-grove","tag-chester-county-judge-david-f-bortner","tag-chester-county-justice-center","tag-david-p-clark","tag-deputy-district-attorney-ron-yen","tag-donna-suber-pendleton","tag-duron-gotti-peoples","tag-eric-stroda-coxry","tag-jeremiah-young-bush","tag-jonas-l-sonny-suber","tag-shamone-kadof-woods"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1721\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}