A Philadelphia man who killed a father of nine outside the victim’s workplace in Middletown Township three years ago will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Kahlill Saleem Brown, 34, was convicted in July of first-degree murder for killing 52-year-old Christopher M. Wilson in December 2020 in the parking lot of Kuusakoski Inc., a recycling facility located at 900 Wheeler Way in Middletown Township.
Wilson had been in a relationship with Brown’s mother, Joyce Brown-Rodriguez, who pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and was sentenced in August.
At Brown’s sentencing in Bucks County Court on Wednesday, three of Wilson’s daughters spoke about the grief and devastation Brown and Brown’s mother caused when they murdered Wilson. “I believe he is getting exactly what he deserves,” one daughter said. Another said, “keep him in jail, keep us safe and let us heal.”
According to the Bucks county District Attorney’s office, Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey L. Finley said he could feel the pain in the voices of Wilson’s family, calling the murder a senseless and heartless act.
Wilson was in the parking lot with co-workers as they awaited the start of their shift when Brown walked up to him and shot him, without any warning. Finley said Wilson was no threat to him and there was no argument between the two men; it was “just a brutal, heartless act,” Finley said. “It’s incomprehensible to me to care so little for another human being,”
Finley then sentenced Brown to life without parole for first-degree murder, and a concurrent sentence of 19 ½ to 39 years for conspiracy, reckless endangerment, and firearms violations.
Following a three-day trial in July, a Bucks County jury convicted Brown of first-degree murder, criminal conspiracy to commit murder, firearms not to be carried without a license, possession of an instrument of crime, false swearing, and two counts of recklessly endangering another person. He was also found guilty of persons not to possess a firearm.
During the trial, Deputy District Attorney Alan J. Garabedian called several witnesses, including Wilson’s co-workers and Brown’s mother, and presented evidence from Middletown Township Police and Bucks County Detectives that included cellphone data that placed Brown at the scene of the crime.
His mother, Joyce Brown-Rodriguez, 56, pleaded guilty in December to third-degree murder, criminal conspiracy, and related charges. She was sentenced by Finley in August to 20 to 40 years in state prison.
Brown and his mother were arrested following an investigation by Detectives with the Middletown Township Police Department and the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office with assistance from the Bucks County 20th Investigating Grand Jury.
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