VIRGINIA BEACH — A Virginia Beach man, the second suspect in the 2016 random killing of a 60-year-old woman, was sentenced Monday to 78 years in prison.
Maurice Boney Jr., 20, formerly of the 3700 block of Canadian Arch will serve 40 years of that term — 38 years were suspended, according to a news release from the Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office.
His conviction: First-degree murder, use of a firearm, and conspiracy.
Circuit Court Judge William R. O’Brien handed down the sentence, calling the crime “heinous” and “barbaric.”
Boney pleaded guilty to the crimes last August.
Prosecutors said Boney and co-defendant Nicholas Cates left Cates’ home in the middle of the night to “take a life.” They drove around in Cates’ Hyundai until they saw Christine Bender smoking a cigarette in front of her house on Campion Court.
Cates told Boney, “she’s the one.”
Cates then asked Bender for a lighter. She let him use the lighter, and he gave it back to her.
As she turned to walk back to her house, “Cates shot Bender several times using a gun Boney gave to him,” according to the news release.
Cates and Boney went back to Cates’ house and woke up a friend to tell him what they had done.
During an interview with detectives, Boney said he threw the gun after dismantling it.
For his role in Bender’s murder as well as another murder committed two days prior, Cates is serving a 50-year prison sentence.
‘She’s the one’: Teenager sentenced to 50 years for his part in random Virginia Beach murders
