Also, verdicts and sentences in assault on correctional officers, prohibited gun, Dover robbery

Ryan Shover, 46, of York, PA, was convicted by a jury of Murder First Degree (intentional murder), Murder First Degree (felony murder), 2 counts of Possession of a Deadly Weapon During Commission of a Felony, Insurance Fraud and Conspiracy First Degree for murdering Wayne Cappelli in 2013. Cappelli was attacked on Delaview Avenue and killed with a baseball bat as he walked home from his job on February 16, 2013, and his body was found in a wooded area a few days later. The investigation revealed that three friends, Michael Kman, David Hess and Paul Disabatino, had talked Cappelli into taking out a life insurance policy. In November 2012, Cappelli made Disabatino the beneficiary of the $360,000 policy, with the intent that Disabatino would look after Cappelli’s child. Kman enlisted Shover to commit the murder and be paid $30,000 from the insurance benefits. After the murder, Disabatino, with the aid of Kman, attempted to collect the insurance money.  Those efforts were not successful as the criminal investigation developed. Eventually, Chancery Court awarded the money in trust to Cappelli’s child.  Hess and Disabatino pled guilty in January 2016 to Criminally Negligent Homicide, Insurance Fraud and Conspiracy First Degree.  Hess was sentenced to 5 years in jail and Disabatino is pending sentencing. Michael Kman pled guilty to Murder Second Degree, Insurance Fraud and Conspiracy 1st Degree on December 2017 and Kman’s sentence is pending. Shover will also be sentenced at a later date. Deputy Attorneys General John Downs and Danielle Brennan prosecuted the case, with DOJ Paralegal Stacey Coupe and DOJ Investigator Cliff Dempsey. Sgt. Tom Orzechowski of New Castle County Police was the lead investigator. DOJ Social Worker Courtney Cochran supported the victim’s family through the investigation and trial.

Gregory Parker, 53, of New Castle was sentenced to 25 years in prison on his convictions for Murder 2nd Degree and Possession of a Deadly Weapon During the Commission of a Felony.  Parker, who had no prior criminal convictions, pled guilty in November 2017 to the 2016 fatal beating of Shawn Spence in Mallard Pointe near New Castle.  New Castle County Police Department found Spence inside Parker’s residence bludgeoned to death.  Parker fled Delaware and remained at large until his arrest by the U.S. Marshal Service six months later in New York City.

Deputy Attorney General Jamie McCloskey secured a 6-year prison sentence for a Dover man who attacked correctional officers at a probation center. Xavier Spady, 26, of Dover, was an inmate at Central Violation of Probation Center when he refused a correctional sergeant’s orders to enter his cell and began fighting with him in January 2017. A correctional corporal who was responding to the altercation was thrown into a wall, resulting in a head injury. Spady pled guilty to Assault in a Detention Facility and Attempted Assault in a Detention Facility.  He was sentenced to 6 years in jail on those charges, followed by probation.

Keenan Anderson, 26, of Wilmington faces 23 years to life in prison for weapons convictions. Wilmington Police Department officers stopped Anderson in the 600 block of West 7th Street in May 2017 in reference to being wanted. While officers patted him down, they discovered a handgun on his person. Anderson was convicted of Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited and Carrying a Concealed Deadly Weapon. Anderson is also facing charges from 2017 in two pending cases involving a shooting and a carjacking. Deputy Attorneys General Zach Rosen and Periann Doko prosecuted the case assisted by DOJ paralegal Jessica Ascione and DOJ investigator Guillermo Santiago.

A 40-year old Dover man was found guilty in bifurcated jury trials on charges of Robbery 1^st Degree, Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited, Assault 3^rd Degree, Theft of Firearm, and Conspiracy 2^nd Degree for an attack in downtown Dover. In September 2016, Pierre Downs and accomplices assaulted and robbed a man after leaving the Golden Fleece Tavern. Downs, a habitual offender, is facing 40 years of mandatory jail time because of the convictions from this case. He is a habitual offender based on previous convictions involving weapon possessions and felony theft. Sentencing is scheduled for April 6, 2018. Deputy Attorneys General Dennis Kelleher and Alicia Porter prosecuted the case.

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