Crime & Police

Virginia Teen Sentenced in Beating Death of Elderly Tempe Man. He’ll Be a Free Man When He’s 21

A teenage Virginia murderer was sentenced today for his role in the brutal beating death of an 81-year-old Tempe man last year. However, because the boy is a teen, the "rotten little bastard" will only do about seven years behind bars.After pleading guilty last month to first-degree murder in the...
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A teenage Virginia murderer was sentenced today for his role in the brutal beating death of an 81-year-old Tempe man last year. However, because the boy is a teen, the “rotten little bastard” will only do about seven years behind bars.

After pleading guilty last month to first-degree murder in the death of 81-year-old George Baker, of Tempe, a judge in Lynchburg, Virginia sentenced the boy, now 14, to a juvenile detention center until he’s 21.

Baker had been in Lynchburg on September 5, of last year to attend his granddaughter’s wedding.

Baker had a blast — at one point during the reception Baker reportedly told the pastor that if he died that day, he would die a happy man. Baker didn’t die that day, but thanks to three teenage punks, he died the next day.

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About 10 p.m. the night of the wedding, Baker decided to walk from his hotel to a nearby restaurant. That’s when he crossed paths with the three thugs — 16-year-old Kenneth Davis, Vernon Jackson, also 16, and the 14-year-old, then 13.

One of the older boys was trying to impress a girl and apparently thought beating the shit out of an 81-year-old man with the help of his two friends was a good way to do it.

The three teens beat Baker in front of the restaurant patio, breaking his ribs and causing severe head injury.

He died the next day.

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Davis was tried as an adult in March and was convicted of first-degree murder. The case against Jackson is pending.  

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