Delaware News

Defendants Face Prison Time for Murder and Weapons Charges

Criminal Division | Department of Justice | Department of Justice Press Releases | Date Posted: Friday, June 3, 2016



Prosecutors within the Delaware Department of Justice recently obtained significant convictions and sentences.

A 31-year-old Wilmington man will spend 21 years in prison after being sentenced for Murder Second Degree, Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, and a Violation of Probation. Deputy Attorneys General Periann Doko and Colleen Norris secured the sentence for Sidney Sessoms. Following an argument in August 2014, Sessoms fired a gun at a group of people in the area of East 13th and North Claymont streets in Wilmington, hitting and killing 34-year-old Terence Purnell of Wilmington.

Deputy Attorney General Lindsay Taylor obtained a conviction for William Bessicks, 30, of Magnolia for Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited, and Possession of Ammunition by a Person Prohibited. In April 2015, members of Delaware State Police Kent County Drug Unit, Governor’s Task Force, and Special Operations Response Team (SORT), executed a search warrant at Bessicks’s home on Terry Drive in Magnolia regarding a drug investigations of sales of crack cocaine. While searching the home, officers found a loaded .22 caliber handgun, and a small box of ammunition. Bessicks, whose previous robbery conviction makes him unable to have a gun, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison.

Deputy Attorney General Zach George handled the case of 25-year-old Ezekiel Benson of Dover, convicted of Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited, and Carrying a Concealed Deadly Weapon. Acting on a tip in April 2015 that Benson would be in possession of a gun, police conducted a surveillance. After seeing Benson enter a home in the 300 block of West Division Street in Dover, they found him with a loaded 9mm semi-automatic handgun in his waist band, and another loaded 9mm magazine. Benson was sentenced by the court to five years in prison, followed by one year of Level III probation.

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Defendants Face Prison Time for Murder and Weapons Charges

Criminal Division | Department of Justice | Department of Justice Press Releases | Date Posted: Friday, June 3, 2016



Prosecutors within the Delaware Department of Justice recently obtained significant convictions and sentences.

A 31-year-old Wilmington man will spend 21 years in prison after being sentenced for Murder Second Degree, Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, and a Violation of Probation. Deputy Attorneys General Periann Doko and Colleen Norris secured the sentence for Sidney Sessoms. Following an argument in August 2014, Sessoms fired a gun at a group of people in the area of East 13th and North Claymont streets in Wilmington, hitting and killing 34-year-old Terence Purnell of Wilmington.

Deputy Attorney General Lindsay Taylor obtained a conviction for William Bessicks, 30, of Magnolia for Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited, and Possession of Ammunition by a Person Prohibited. In April 2015, members of Delaware State Police Kent County Drug Unit, Governor’s Task Force, and Special Operations Response Team (SORT), executed a search warrant at Bessicks’s home on Terry Drive in Magnolia regarding a drug investigations of sales of crack cocaine. While searching the home, officers found a loaded .22 caliber handgun, and a small box of ammunition. Bessicks, whose previous robbery conviction makes him unable to have a gun, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison.

Deputy Attorney General Zach George handled the case of 25-year-old Ezekiel Benson of Dover, convicted of Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited, and Carrying a Concealed Deadly Weapon. Acting on a tip in April 2015 that Benson would be in possession of a gun, police conducted a surveillance. After seeing Benson enter a home in the 300 block of West Division Street in Dover, they found him with a loaded 9mm semi-automatic handgun in his waist band, and another loaded 9mm magazine. Benson was sentenced by the court to five years in prison, followed by one year of Level III probation.

image_printPrint

Related Topics:  , ,


Graphic that represents delaware news on a mobile phone

Keep up to date by receiving a daily digest email, around noon, of current news release posts from state agencies on news.delaware.gov.

Here you can subscribe to future news updates.