The new stance from the DA’s Office meant that two cases scheduled for contested hearings Tuesday in front of Common Pleas judges were instead quietly resolved with agreements.
One involved Michael Gibbs who was 16 on April 25, 1993, when he and 17-year-old Harry Williams went into the Moon Deli in West Philadelphia, intending to rob it. Williams, fearful that the deli owner, Su Y. Jin, was reaching for a gun, panicked and shot him. Although Gibbs was not the gunman, he was sentenced to life under Pennsylvania’s felony-murder law.
Last fall, Gibbs rejected the DA’s offer of 30 years to life. But this week he was in court to take a deal that would make him eligible for parole right away.
“We thank God for this DA, because this is a long time coming,” said Marie Jordan, one of Gibbs’ cousins, fighting back tears.
Also present were Jacinta Stanfield, Gibbs wife, and his 24-year-old daughter, Kareema Bruce, who waited in the hallway outside with Gibbs’ grandchildren. For Stanfield, the reality that her husband was coming home was just sinking in. She was 15 and pregnant when Gibbs was locked up. “I thought he was going to die in there,” she said.