An Aliquippa man convicted of gunning down a fellow movie-goer at a premiere of rapper 50 Cent's "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" was sentenced yesterday to life in prison.

A jury convicted Larue Taron Graves, 31, of third-degree murder in the Nov. 9 death of Shelton L. Flowers, 30, of Wilkinsburg. Mr. Flowers suffered two gunshot wounds in the lobby of the AMC Loews theater complex at The Waterfront in West Homestead shortly after the movie ended. The fatal bullet pierced Mr. Flowers' femoral artery.

Mr. Graves pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a firearm in the case. A 1994 conviction for voluntary manslaughter qualified him for a life sentence, which the prosecutor requested and Senior Common Pleas Judge John K. Reilly granted.

The judge denied a defense motion for a new trial. Assistant Public Defender Lisa Middleman said she planned to appeal because Mr. Graves did not have the intent to kill.

The gunfight broke out after a scuffle in a theater rest room. Mr. Graves' date that night was a key witness. She testified that he fired a weapon at the victim.

Ms. Middleman acknowledged the visible suffering of the victim and defendant's relatives in the courtroom gallery.

She said she did not have the legal means to argue with the recommended sentence.

"You can sentence him to life but something else has got to be done," she said. "It's a sad state of affairs for two men to go to the movies with guns. We're not doing something right."

Mr. Flowers' mother, one of four family members to testify at the sentencing hearing, said she never imagined she would bury her son. "I look at my grandbabies and the one who knew his dad asks me every time, 'Where's my dad?'" His 10-month-old son never met him.

"The last time I hugged him, [he] was in a coffin," she said.