A southeastern Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to stabbing a childhood friend to death and setting the apartment on fire last year.
Twenty-two-year-old Shakeem Carter pleaded guilty Tuesday in Chester County to first-degree murder, robbery and arson in the February 2013 murder of 17-year-old Kevin Allen Jr. of Norristown.
He was sentenced to the mandatory life term after prosecutors took the death penalty off the table in exchange for the plea.
Prosecutors said the victim was stabbed more than 20 times in his father's North Coventry Township apartment and $350 was taken.
Relatives of the victim expressed outrage and demanded to know the reason for the murder. Carter declined to speak, but a public defender representing him said he was remorseful.
