Ex-Deptford cop gets 30 years in killing of friend

David Compton's sister still sometimes sets a spot for him at the dinner table, forgetting he's not coming.

His father, Bill, tries to watch the Flyers, David's favorite team, but can't without tearing up.

"I feel lost without David," Bill Compton said Friday at the Gloucester County Justice Complex in a courtroom packed with nearly 70 people.

James Stuart, the former Deptford police officer who fatally shot David Compton in January 2013 - and maintained at his sentencing Friday it was an accident - stood up before the judge announced the term and told Compton's family, "I am sorrier than you will ever know."

Judge Robert Becker then sentenced Stuart to 30 years in prison. He had faced a maximum of life behind bars.

Stuart displayed little emotion during the hearing, but said during a two-and-a-half-minute speech that his actions were "stupid," and that he wished Compton's death had never happened.

"It shouldn't have happened," Stuart said.

Stuart, 31, was off-duty when he shot Compton, 27, in the face early on Jan. 5, 2013, while the two were in Stuart's Deptford home after a night out at the Sewell bar Lazy Lanigan's.

Stuart was found guilty in October of one count of murder and one of aggravated manslaughter.

Compton's family said in court Friday they were "disgusted" by what they described as Stuart's attempts to cover his tracks and his lack of urgency, as Compton choked on his own blood after the single gunshot went off.

"From the very moment that gun was fired, Mr. Stuart avoided the truth," said Compton's mother, Maureen.

She and other family members pointed to a call Stuart made to his department after the shooting, in which Stuart said Compton was "playing with one of my weapons," but did not say who fired the shot.

Before Stuart spoke Friday, Bill Compton told Becker that Stuart had not expressed "a scintilla of remorse," and was only looking to protect himself.

John Eastlack Jr., Stuart's lawyer, had called the shooting a "horrible, tragic accident" and said Stuart did not know that the .40-caliber Glock pistol he was holding - his off-duty service weapon - was loaded.

In announcing the 30-year term, the minimum required by the law, Becker said it was unlikely Stuart would kill again, and said that a jury had found Stuart guilty of knowingly murdering Compton, but not purposely murdering him.

That means the jury believed that, although Stuart knew his conduct would lead to Compton's death, he did not intend to kill Compton.

"It was gratifying the jury vindicated Dave," Bill Compton said Friday afternoon after the sentencing. But, he said of Stuart's term, "there's no quantifying a loss."

Stuart was terminated from his police department job. He had worked there for five years at the time of the shooting.

Compton, a mechanical engineer who lived in South Philadelphia, died Jan. 11, 2013, six days after the shooting, after being taken off life support. Maureen and Bill Compton, who are from Woodbury, had adopted him as an infant from South Korea.

Tracey Sharpe, his sister, put framed photos of Compton on a table in the courtroom Friday. The photos faced Becker, who glanced at them as Compton's family members described how they will never be able to see him marry or become a father.

"We were given a sentence of life without him," Sharpe said.

Stuart and Compton had known each other since high school, with Stuart graduating from Deptford High and Compton from Woodbury.

The night of the shooting, the two men returned to Stuart's Deptford home from the bar to watch the movie Judge Dredd. Eastlack said during the trial that, prior to reaching Stuart's home, the night had included a few beers, dancing, and a "bro hug" between Stuart and Compton.

At dispute at the sentencing was whether Compton said something in the background of the call Stuart made after the shooting. Maureen Compton, recalling a recording of it, said she could hear David saying, "Help me."

"I heard my son's last words, and I know my son's voice," she said.

Eastlack said those words came from the movie, and that Compton was unresponsive after the gunshot went off.

Prosecutors said Stuart's blood alcohol content, measured four hours after the shooting, was 0.14 - higher than the 0.08 level at which a motorist is guilty of drunken driving in New Jersey.

At the sentencing, Stuart called Compton one of his best friends.

"There's not a day that goes by I don't think about him, that I don't miss him," Stuart said. But Stuart said he will always maintain the shooting was accidental.

"It was an accident, that's the truth," he said.

Stuart's brother, Charles, 33, said his family prays every night for Compton. He called Compton's death a tragedy for both families.

"It is something," he said, "that we all live with now forever."

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