TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A man has been sentenced to life in prison in the shooting death of a Kansas bride as she left her reception in her wedding gown.
Thirty-nine-year-old Thomas Earl Brown Jr. of Topeka was sentenced Tuesday for premeditated first-degree murder in the death of 42-year-old Tiffany Davenport-Ray and the attempted murder of her husband, Melvin Ray. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that under the sentence, he must serve at least 71 years and five months.
Prosecutors say shots were fired in May 2014 at the Topeka newlyweds from a sport utility vehicle in which Brown and two others were riding. Prosecutors say Melvin Ray returned fire, but wasn’t wounded.
Co-defendant Awnterio Dwan Lowery was sentenced previously to life in prison, while the third SUV occupant was later killed.
