Guilty plea in stoning death of 70-year-old

An Upper Darby man who admitted killing an elderly neighbor - and close friend - by striking him with a rock placed inside a sock has pleaded guilty but mentally ill to third-degree murder.

Under the plea agreement, John J. Thomas, 29, was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in jail for the slaying of Murray J. Seidman, 70, of Lansdowne, in January 2011.

Thomas, who expressed his remorse to the victim's family when he appeared in Delaware County Court on Friday, has been hospitalized for mental illness several times, said his attorney, Mary Beth Welch.

Seidman had made homosexual advances toward him, Thomas told police, and he killed him after interpreting an Old Testament passage to say that homosexuals should be stoned to death in certain situations.

Kelly said Thomas is now on medication. "It's sad for everybody," she said.

   - Anthony R. Wood

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