CROWN HEIGHTS — A Brooklyn man was sentenced Tuesday to 18 years in prison for bludgeoning a man to death in 2014, beating him repeatedly with a television set and one of the victim's own crutches, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's office.
Delvin Garcia, 31, of East New York, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter on Jan. 30 in the death of 26-year-old Anthony Freeman, who was found dead in his apartment on Saint Marks Avenue near Eastern Parkway on Sept. 2, 2014.
Garcia beat Freeman with a 13-inch box TV set and a crutch, which the victim was using at the time, prosecutors said. Freeman died of blunt force trauma to the head.
Garcia was arrested in February of 2015 after a fingerprint on the bloodstained television was identified as his. Freeman's girlfriend said she had seen Garcia riding a bike outside the victim's apartment shortly before the attack, officials said.
Lawrence Fredella, Garcia's attorney, described the incident as "a drug deal gone bad," and says that his client was "jumped" as he was trying to purchase marijuana.
"He got jumped by a couple of different people, including the decedent and two others — he basically defended himself and fought for his life," Fredella said. "He certainly didn't mean to kill the decedent."
Garcia was sentenced to 18 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision, according to the Brooklyn DA's office.
