A New York man convicted of killing Brianna McKoy, daughter of veteran sound system selector Ricky Trooper in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 2023, was on Thursday sentenced to 55 years in prison.
Many in a group of more than a dozen relatives and friends of the 23-year-old victim shouted "Thanks" to the panel of three judges who decided the sentence before haranguing her killer 43-year-old Derrick Francis as he was led by marshals into the lock-up at the Bridgeport Judicial District Courthouse.
Before pronouncing the sentence, Judge Earl Richards said the facts of the case stood out even among a distressing epidemic of domestic violence homicides.
A three-judge panel unanimously found Francis guilty of murder in April after a four-day trial.
Judge Richards said evidence and testimony introduced during the trial showed Francis got into an argument with McKoy on April 6, 2023 after returning with their 18-month-old son to a Vincelette Street condominium and shot her four times with a 9mm semi-automatic pistol in a bedroom while the boy was in a playpen only feet away.
He then left the scene before fleeing to New York, then Ohio, where he was apprehended with the murder weapon days afterward and has been behind bars since.
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