Andre "Little Dre" Crisswell's eyes belied his claims of innocence in the slayings of an 8-year-old girl, her father and a family friend, an Allegheny County judge told the convicted killer on Monday.
"When the autopsy photos were shown of that little girl, there was not a dry eye in the room, except for yours. I watched you," Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman said. "It became evident to me that you're the individual who assassinated these people. You're nothing more than a cold-blooded killer."
Cashman sentenced Crisswell, 31, of Lincoln-Lemington, to three consecutive life terms in prison and an additional 30 to 60 years behind bars for the Jan. 25, 2002, ambush at Mr. Tommy's Sandwich Stop in Homewood.
"Now get him out of my sight," Cashman said angrily to sheriff's deputies after calling Crisswell a "vile, vicious and vindictive individual."
A jury in March convicted Crisswell of three counts of first-degree murder for fatally shooting Taylor Coles, 8; her father, Parrish Freeman, 36, of Wilkinsburg; and the intended target of the attack, Thomas Mitchell III, 31, of Homestead.
The jury deadlocked on the guilt of accused shooter William "Munch" Thompson, 35, of Homewood. Another jury had deadlocked on both men's guilt last November. Thompson is scheduled for a third trial on Sept. 6.
Terri Coles, who lost her daughter, Taylor, and longtime partner, Freeman, and was herself wounded in the gunfire, struggled to convey her grief during a victim impact statement to the judge.
"My whole world has been totally turned upside down," Coles said, as tears ran down her face and her mother and a county victims' advocate supported her on both sides. "I remember that terrible sound when she died in my arms.
"We've lost so much, for something we didn't do," she said.
Assistant District Attorney Mark Tranquilli said Crisswell and Thompson targeted Mitchell -- who used a wheelchair following a drug-related shooting a decade ago -- because of a drug debt.
A half-dozen witnesses -- many of whom had criminal backgrounds and drug addictions -- identified Crisswell and Thompson as the masked shooters.
But Crisswell yesterday maintained police have the wrong man.
"I'm innocent of all the charges," he told Cashman. "I didn't do this."
Crisswell's attorney, James Wymard, said his client "told me he has a great deal of sympathy for the victims."
Wymard said another attorney will appeal Crisswell's convictions.
