2 Philadelphia men sentenced for helping Liczbinski killers

Two Philadelphia men who helped one of the convicted murderers of Police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski were sentenced Thursday to prison.

Mitchell Cain, 50, was given 5 to 10 years - the mandatory minimum - by Common Pleas Court Judge Benjamin Lerner. Isaac Albright, 35, was sentenced to 111/2 to 23 months.

Cain had pleaded guilty to robbery, conspiracy, and weapons charges for his role in an armed carjacking on May 2, 2008, the day before Liczbinski was shot to death. He, his nephew Howard Cain, 33, and Eric DeShann Floyd, 35, took a Jeep from a hack cabbie in North Philadelphia.

The Jeep was used the next day by Howard Cain, Floyd, and Levon T. Warner, 42, in a Port Richmond bank robbery, after which Liczbinski pursued them. At a stop sign, Floyd fatally shot the 39-year-old officer.

Cain was killed that day in a standoff with police.

In August, Floyd and Warner were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Albright had helped Floyd elude a police dragnet for a week after Liczbinski's shooting.

Because Albright has been in prison since the 2008 shooting, the judge said he was immediately eligible for release.

Both men were praised by Assistant District Attorneys Mark Gilson and Jude Conroy because they cooperated with investigators upon their arrest and provided valuable information for Floyd's and Warner's trials. Cain had testified about his nephew's plans for the bank robbery and the carjacking despite numerous death threats, Conroy said.

Lerner noted that both men had resisted the "don't snitch" culture prevalent in many areas of the city.

"Your cooperation was not something everybody is willing to do," the judge told Cain, "even when they're under a lot less pressure."