07 May 2010 :

A Philadelphia jury today sentenced Laquaille Bryant twice to death. Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart formally imposed the jury's sentence. Bryant, 28, black, pleaded guilty last month in the January 19, 2008 shooting deaths of Chante Wright and Octavia Green, both 23. Prosecutors say Bryant killed the women because Wright was a federal witness scheduled to testify in the trial of another man. Bryant pleaded guilty April 21 to 2-counts of 1st-degree murder but denied any involvement in a murder-for-hire scheme. He apologized to the victims' families as the verdict was read. According to the prosecution, Bryant did it for money to stop Wright from testifying against Hakeem Bey, head of a drug gang. Bey is serving life for a murder Wright witnessed. He has not been charged in the slayings of Wright and Green.