Sentencing in 'Beats by Dre' murder delayed by courtroom brawl

A courtroom brawl aborted Tuesday's sentencing of the West Philadelphia man who had just been found guilty of felony murder in the 2013 robbery of a special-needs man for his brand-new Beats by Dre headphones.

The chaos erupted when Arkel Garcia, 21, stood to be sentenced to a mandatory life sentence for the Nov. 30, 2013, shooting death of Christian Massey.

Garcia stood up suddenly and the heavy wooden courtroom chair he had been using tipped over behind him, next to Deputy Sheriff Sgt. Robert Castelli.

When Castelli righted the chair and pushed it close behind Garcia, the convicted man swore at Castelli and spun around. Castelli grabbed Garcia, who resisted, resulting in a scrum involving at least a half-dozen deputies and police officers. When it ended, Garcia was hauled from the courtroom, and his family was crying and screaming that he had been beaten.

After all this, Common Pleas Court Judge Steven R. Geroff decided to postpone sentencing until March 5.

The jury deliberated about three hours since Friday afternoon before finding Garcia guilty of second-degree murder. Garcia did not show any reaction to the verdict.

Defense attorney Joshua E. Scarpello asked that the judge immediately sentence Garcia without a presentence investigation, and Geroff asked Garcia whether he had anything to say.

"I'm cool," Garcia said.

Moments later, it was clear that he wasn't.

Massey's family declined to comment after the hearing.

Assistant District Attorney Brendan O'Malley said the courtroom incident "gave us a little window into his mind-set."

"This was a robbery pure and simple," O'Malley said, adding, "I think we can assume he's done this type of thing before."

Scarpello said afterward that Garcia was "very upset at the verdict" and that he thought deputies overreacted. "I think the whole thing could have been avoided."

Scarpello had argued that Garcia had nothing to do with the robbery and shooting of Massey, 21, a 6-foot-2 star athlete and special-needs student with an obsession for high-tech gadgetry.

Garcia confessed to robbing Massey with two friends but insisted he was not the gunman.

O'Malley argued that Garcia's statement fell apart when a fuzzy surveillance video from the 5900 block of Lebanon Avenue showed only one man following Massey - who had owned the $300 headphones for less than a day - before he was shot for failing to immediately surrender them. The gunman left the headphones on the street near Massey's body.

Massey was from the Carroll Park section of West Philadelphia but attended a special-needs school in Delaware County. He was then mainstreamed into Marple Newtown High School, where he excelled in football, basketball, and lacrosse.

"He thrived in that environment," O'Malley said.