JOSEPH BEARDEN SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON

FOR THE 2007 FLORIDA MURDER OF RYAN SKIPPER

BARTOW, FL FEB 27 2009 3:30 P.M.
Sentencing was swift by Judge J. Michael Hunter in the Murder trial of Joseph Eli (Smiley) Bearden, 23. He imposed the maximum sentences allowable under the law as punishment for his involvement in the brutal slaying of a Florida gay man, Ryan Skipper, who at the time of his death was 25.

At 3:30 PM,unmoved by the pleas of Bearden's mother, Pastor, and the defendant himself, Judge Hunter sentenced Bearden to LIFE in a Florida State Prison for 2nd deg Murder, 5 yrs for Theft of a Motor Vehicle, 15 yrs for Accessory After the Fact / Robbery, 5 yrs for Tampering with Evidence, and 15 yrs for Dealing in Stolen Property. All sentences are to be served concurrently.

When asked if he wanted to make a statement before sentence was pronounced, Bearden apologized to the Skipper family, yet maintained that he was nowhere near where the murder took place, took no part in the slaying of Ryan Skipper and asserted that the man who did the crime was "still walking the street". Though he didn't, in his statement, mention any particular individual, based upon previous testimony and statements of witnesses, he was obviously referring to Ray Allen Brown, a cousin to William David Brown, Jr., the co-defendant in this case, whose trial will begin later this year.

In handing down his sentence, Judge Hunter stated to Bearden that he believed that this was a crime motivated by robbery and hate, due to Skippers homosexuality, and that Bearden had much more involvement in the crime than he admitted to.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• JOSEPH
• BEARDEN
• RYAN
• SKIPPER
• MURDER
• TRIAL
• SENTENCING
• GAY
• HATE
• CRIME
• BARTOW
• FLORIDA
• Gay
• Student
• Verdict
• homosexual
• Bartow
• Florida
• second-degree

[7JoPinky]

He's just wasted his whole life. Being in jail for life over for something so stupid it isn't worth it.

[aravind1985]

at 3:12 the guy next to him tell's him to say "i am sorry for the family"

[NinjaManMod]

7:48, "I wasted tears for nothing."

[beautifulkat1]

I hate to say this, knowing he might be a murderer and all, but he's kinda cute......

[cruzere120]

@Metrader you t of Americans are content at home and don't need to fly all over the world, Kofi Annan” oh you talk like a fag idiothave AIDs well it figures you

[Metrader]

@cruzere120

You have a wonderful American dream, to realise the American dream of success, fame and wealth through thrift and hard work, pursuit of happiness - blah blah blah..

My friend, we don’t have a dream here, because we are all AWAKE.

Your country would rather reject giving a genuinely clever - but poor kid a College place

and give it to a dumb 300Lb idiot just because he can throw a ball far or hit a ball with a stupid bat, thats DUMB..is this all part of the dream?

Good day.

[Metrader]

@cruzere120

I sat on a plane back from the US once and just before landing the pilot pointed out how beautiful Windsor Castle looked, built by William the conqueror just after 1066, and whilst us Brits watched the glorious site of our Queens residence below, a wonderful American voice piped up – “why would they build such a beautiful palace under the flight path”.

[Metrader]

@cruzere120

You call me ignorant? Why is it that only 5M Americas have passports? That’s less than 3%...

What you know about the world...is very VERY little. I met an American that thought that Kofi Annan was a hot drink, and I can just see your dumb face now saying to yourself...”who’s Kofi Annan”



[Metrader]

@cruzere120

My dear friend, I am from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, you know, the country that gave you your independence, and that’s “Inglund” to you, and part of the continent of “Europe” and just to clarify things for you and your American dimwit peers, this is a country in its own right, since I know that 40% of Americans thought that Europe WAS a country, and that unbelievably one fifth of Americans (that’s 20%) cannot locate the USA on a map of the world.

[cruzere120]

they found out the judge is Gay also