(VitalNews.org) – A 56-year-old woman from Pennsylvania has been sentenced to between 20 and 40 years behind bars for her part in the murder of her ex-boyfriend, Christopher Wilson, 52. Joyce Brown-Rodriguez plead guilty to charges of criminal conspiracy, third-degree murder, and several minor charges associated with the murder of Wilson after he ended their two-year relationship in December 2020.
As part of her plea deal, she not only admitted her own culpability in the crime, but also testified against her son Khallil Saleem Brown, aged 34, who was duly convicted of first-degree murder. After Wilson ended their romantic relationship, Brown-Rodriguez tried multiple times on December 9 to call him on the phone. After making several calls and texting him, she then turned up at his Middletown Township place of work, Kuusakoski Recycling. According to a witness statement made by Wilson’s co-worker, the pair ended up arguing at the Pennsylvania recycling facility.
After this altercation, Rodriguez-Brown texted her son and asked for his help, to which he replied that he would speak to Wilson. On the day of the killing, December 10, Rodriguez-Brown drove her son to Wilson’s place of work, where he exited the vehicle and confronted Wilson.
According to prosecutors, Rodriguez-Brown testified that after the shooting, Brown told her he “didn’t feel like” talking to Wilson. His mother drove him away from the scene of the crime and did not report the shooting to police. Instead, she appeared to actively grieve alongside Wilson’s bereaved family members. Wilson was a father of nine. Five of his children made impact statements to the court and told the judge that Rodriguez-Brown had been considered part of the family, with one daughter describing her actions after the murder as “demonic”.
Rodriguez-Brown claimed that she had only wanted her son to speak to Wilson, rather than cause him any harm. Law enforcement rejected that claim, however, and gave evidence that she had been seeking a firearm in the days before the murder. Brown, who shot Wilson several times, including after he fell to the ground, is yet to be sentenced.
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