The last of three men convicted in the killing of a man inside an Atlantic City motel was sentenced to eight years in prison Wednesday.
Charles Wynn, 28, of Egg Harbor Tonwship, was in another room when Devonte Molley was shot inside the Baymont Inn & Suites four days before Christmas 2015.
He was convicted of manslaughter at a January trial in which a jury found admitted shooter Sterling Spence and accomplice Maurice Burgess guilty of murder. Both men are now serving 50-year sentences.
Wynn was the first to apologize to the family, reading from a letter in which he explained how it affects him.
“I believe the trial went exactly how it was supposed to,” Molley’s mother, Khira Molley, said after the sentencing. “I believe that Wynn was given a second chance at life because God saw something in him.”
She told Wynn he should see it as a blessing.
“In a weird way, he is the only chance for anything positive to come from this and I hope he would take advantage of it,” Molley said. “We need more positive in this world and I hope he would become a part of it.”
The final sentencing in her son’s killing allowed Molley to finally see an end to more than three years of court hearings and waiting as she watched Spence, who had been her son’s friend, and Burgess joke and laugh with one another in court.
She also got the chance to thank the officer who allowed her to see her son’s body and tell him how much it meant to her.
Molley said she was thankful to everyone involved in resolving her son’s case.
“They handled my son's case and treated me and my family with respect,” she said. “The hard work, hugs and kind words received today and over the last three years were appreciated.”
Wynn must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence under the No Early Release Act.
Burgess and Spence are currently in New Jersey State Prison, where their parole eligibility dates are in 2058.
