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Wilkinsburg man sentenced to 119 years for killing pizza delivery man
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A Wilkinsburg man was sentenced today to more than a century behind bars for killing a pizza delivery man with a sawed-off shotgun during an ambush robbery in 2007.
Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge David Cashman sentenced William Mitchell, 22, to 119 to 238 years for homicide, robbery and conspiracy.
A jury in May convicted Mitchell of killing Boston Smithwick, 48, on April 19, 2007. Prosecutors said he and another Wilkinsburg man, Lance Dempster, called Vocelli Pizza in Swissvale and asked for a delivery at an abandoned house on the street where Mitchell lived.
When Mr. Smithwick arrived, Mitchell shot him in the leg. Mr. Smithwick bled to death.
Mitchell and Dempster were both 17 at the time, and the case dragged through the system for years because their lawyers tried unsuccessfully to get them certified as juveniles.
Dempster pleaded guilty to third-degree homicide this summer and is serving 10 to 25 years.
First Published November 27, 2012 12:25 am
