Posted on Wed, Apr. 1, 2009
Shop owner's killer gets life, spews curses, spits on lawyer
By JULIE SHAW
Philadelphia Daily News
shawj@phillynews.com 215-854-2592
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - A 17-year-old convicted murderer spit in his defense attorney's face yesterday and called a judge, his attorney and the prosecutor "f---ing crackers."
James Canady - convicted by a jury in February of first-degree murder in the 2007 shooting death of Crescentville grocer Jiaxing Lu - spouted expletive upon expletive when it was his turn to speak at his sentencing hearing.
He began accusing the prosecutor and others of opening "a little dirty" case against him. When Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Minehart reminded Canady that he had been convicted by a jury and suggested that he keep his comments to his sentencing rather than trying to be a tough guy, Canady shouted: "Ain't nothing about being a tough guy."
He then spewed out, "F---ing crackers, man!" directing his comment at the judge; at his attorney, Lee Mandell, and at Assistant District Attorney Michael Barry.
The judge called Canady "a disgrace." During the next few moments, Canady continued shouting curses as his mother, Camilla Brown, wailed in the gallery for him to stop speaking.
Canady then spit in Mandell's face. At that, Minehart ordered sheriff's deputies to "bind [Canady] and gag him" before bringing him back into the courtroom.
Before leaving, Canady shouted, "F--- you!" at the judge.
After a break, during which Canady was gagged with gauze and padding - which was secured to his mouth by clear tape wrapped around his head - Canady was again brought into the courtroom.
The judge, in noting that Canady has shown no remorse in the Aug. 9, 2007, shooting, sentenced him to the mandatory term of life in prison on the first-degree-murder conviction and added a consecutive term of 22 1/2 to 45 years for his convictions on robbery, conspiracy, and possessing an instrument of crime.
Earlier yesterday, before Canady's outbursts, prosecutor Barry read a letter written by Lu's 28-year-old son. In it, the son touchingly described how his father came to the United States from China in 1992, and worked long, exhausting hours in a restaurant in Flushing, N.Y., then in his own restaurant in Glenolden, Delaware County.
His father was able to obtain legal status and apply for the rest of his family to come to the United States in 1999, when he was still in New York.
In 2005, his father got the opportunity to buy the grocery store, on Colgate Street near Cheltenham Avenue, the son wrote. His father could finally relax, and thought that his store, Lu Grocery, would become his retirement place, but instead it became "his funeral place," the son wrote.
Brown, Canady's mother, tearfully told the court yesterday that she wanted to apologize to the Lu family for their loss.
At Canady's trial, Lu's daughter, LiXia Lu, 25, testified that she had recognized Canady, who lived in the neighborhood, as the gunman who came into her family's store that August day with an accomplice. After a fierce struggle, in which she threw soda bottles and canned goods at him, she ripped off his mask.
It was after Canady, then 15, was pushed out the store's door that he reached back in and shot Jiaxing Lu, 47. *
Shop owner's killer gets life, spews curses, spits on lawyer
By JULIE SHAW
Philadelphia Daily News
shawj@phillynews.com 215-854-2592
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - A 17-year-old convicted murderer spit in his defense attorney's face yesterday and called a judge, his attorney and the prosecutor "f---ing crackers."
James Canady - convicted by a jury in February of first-degree murder in the 2007 shooting death of Crescentville grocer Jiaxing Lu - spouted expletive upon expletive when it was his turn to speak at his sentencing hearing.
He began accusing the prosecutor and others of opening "a little dirty" case against him. When Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Minehart reminded Canady that he had been convicted by a jury and suggested that he keep his comments to his sentencing rather than trying to be a tough guy, Canady shouted: "Ain't nothing about being a tough guy."
He then spewed out, "F---ing crackers, man!" directing his comment at the judge; at his attorney, Lee Mandell, and at Assistant District Attorney Michael Barry.
The judge called Canady "a disgrace." During the next few moments, Canady continued shouting curses as his mother, Camilla Brown, wailed in the gallery for him to stop speaking.
Canady then spit in Mandell's face. At that, Minehart ordered sheriff's deputies to "bind [Canady] and gag him" before bringing him back into the courtroom.
Before leaving, Canady shouted, "F--- you!" at the judge.
After a break, during which Canady was gagged with gauze and padding - which was secured to his mouth by clear tape wrapped around his head - Canady was again brought into the courtroom.
The judge, in noting that Canady has shown no remorse in the Aug. 9, 2007, shooting, sentenced him to the mandatory term of life in prison on the first-degree-murder conviction and added a consecutive term of 22 1/2 to 45 years for his convictions on robbery, conspiracy, and possessing an instrument of crime.
Earlier yesterday, before Canady's outbursts, prosecutor Barry read a letter written by Lu's 28-year-old son. In it, the son touchingly described how his father came to the United States from China in 1992, and worked long, exhausting hours in a restaurant in Flushing, N.Y., then in his own restaurant in Glenolden, Delaware County.
His father was able to obtain legal status and apply for the rest of his family to come to the United States in 1999, when he was still in New York.
In 2005, his father got the opportunity to buy the grocery store, on Colgate Street near Cheltenham Avenue, the son wrote. His father could finally relax, and thought that his store, Lu Grocery, would become his retirement place, but instead it became "his funeral place," the son wrote.
Brown, Canady's mother, tearfully told the court yesterday that she wanted to apologize to the Lu family for their loss.
At Canady's trial, Lu's daughter, LiXia Lu, 25, testified that she had recognized Canady, who lived in the neighborhood, as the gunman who came into her family's store that August day with an accomplice. After a fierce struggle, in which she threw soda bottles and canned goods at him, she ripped off his mask.
It was after Canady, then 15, was pushed out the store's door that he reached back in and shot Jiaxing Lu, 47. *
