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July 6, 2007

Update: Convicted murderer sentenced to 2 life terms

PROVIDENCE – If Alonzo P. Shelton was trying to avoid being sent back to prison by attempting to a kill a woman threatening to implicate him in a drug case, the plan backfired.

At his sentencing in Superior Court this morning, Shelton was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison, ordered to serve the remaining 17 years of an earlier conviction for assault with a dangerous weapon, and ruled a habitual offender, a ruling that resulted in his getting another 25 years behind bars.

Judge Robert D. Krause ordered that Shelton served the four prison sentences consecutively, the Attorney General Office spokesman, Michael J. Healey, said.

The consecutive sentences mean that Shelton, 29, will have to serve a minimum of 72 years in prison , Healey said, even if he is granted parole.

An ex-convict with a lengthy criminal record, Shelton was found guilty May 9 of murder, conspiracy to murder, assault with intent to murder, and discharging a firearm, death resulting.

He was accused of killing 24-year-old Jessica Imran and attempting to kill her friend, 27-year-old Julie Lang, after Lang, a former girlfriend, was arrested for possession of crack cocaine and pressured Shelton to say the drugs were his.

The murder took place in the early hours of the morning on July 27 in Imran’s apartment on Lawn Avenue in Pawtucket. The murder weapon, a small submachine gun, was never found.

But Lang survived the shooting, despite being shot four times and suffering five bullet wound – the fifth an exit wound in her neck.

At Shelton’s trial before a jury of four men and eight women, she offered dramatic testimony, describing how Shelton and his 20-year-old nephew, Barry Offley, burst into Imran’s apartment and opened fire.

Shelton and Offley were arrested in Ocala, Florida, six weeks after the shooting.

Offley, who had his case severed from Shelton’s, is being held at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston on charges of murder, conspiracy to murder, and discharging a firearm, death resulting. Healey said the case is expected to be tried during the fall.

-- John Castellucci, Journal staff writer

Posted by Jack Perry  at 2:43 PM | Permalink

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