SKOWHEGAN, Maine — A Detroit man who pleaded guilty to killing his father last year was sentenced to the maximum sentence of 30 years in prison during a hearing in Somerset County Superior Court on Wednesday.
Angelo Licata, 34, pleaded guilty to depraved indifference murder in June for the July 2011 slaying of his father, Alfred Licata Sr.
“We’re pleased the court could impose the maximum,” Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson said Thursday. “Even considering the mitigating factors, it was still a brutal murder.”
Licata’s attorneys, Peter Barnett and Frank Griffin, argued for a 25-year sentence, but Justice John Nivison sided with the state.
Griffin said Licata’s mother, Arlene Licata, addressed the court for roughly 25 minutes. Angelo Licata then addressed the court.
“He was very emotional,” said Griffin. “He said he didn’t mean to kill his father. He loved his father. He wished it never happened. He apologized to his family.”
Licata has the right to appeal the sentence, said Griffin, but not any prior court rulings.
“We have talked to our client about [appealing the sentence],” said Griffin. “We will definitely explore that a little further.”
On July 21, 2011, authorities went to the home of Alfred Licata Sr. at 14 Ham Hill Road in Cambridge after his wife, Arlene, dialed 911 from a neighbor’s house.
According to a state police affidavit written by Maine State Police Detective Bryant Jacques, Arlene Licata was upstairs in her two-story house when she heard banging and screaming on the first floor and subsequently saw “blood all over the kitchen.”
Somerset County sheriff’s deputies found Alfred Licata’s body on his lawn. He appeared to have suffered blunt-force trauma to his head during the incident, according to the reports. Police have not said what was used as a weapon.
The affidavit filed by Jacques said Angelo Licata later went to a friend’s house in Waterville. He was crying and upset and told his friend that he had killed his father.
The state’s motion last summer for a forensic evaluation of Licata stated that, according to members of his family, he “has a long history of mental illness, including bipolar disorder. They further state that the defendant recently appeared to be hearing voices.”
The motion continued, “In an interview with the Maine State Police, the defendant claimed, as it relates to his motive for having caused the death of his father, that ‘God’ had told him to do it.”
A life should be worth a life,not 30 years.
I agree and then they wonder why crimes like this keep happening. If this guy got life in prison and did hard time it might deter others. Gotta love our justice system!
Baloney. Harsh sentences do not deter crime they just remove the person from society, which in this case is a good thing. California destroyed their prison system with their 3 strikes law. The threat of life in prison did not even deter petty criminals! You are suffering from the biblical mentality of human motivation and justice.. not that far from the strict muslim view. This guy was not rational when he killed.
It is actually a waste of 2 stakeholders lives.
Why should the taxpayers of the state have to pay every single year to house, feed, provide cable and Internet, a law library, a state-of-the-art weight room for these egregious violators of laws against mankind? I am ready to see the death penalty come back. If it is not a deterrent, it certainly helps the budget!