Man receives life sentence in gay-bar owner's death

A 21-year-old New York man was sentenced on Tuesday to 25 years to life in prison for killing a Binghamton bar owner. Richard Lawrence pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the April
strangulation death of 45-year-old Douglas Guiles at the gay bar he owned, Prism. Prosecutors said Lawrence intended to rob Guiles after the bar closed and that there was no evidence of a hate crime.

Broome County judge Martin Smith said he will recommend to the state's parole board that Lawrence never leave prison. "You killed one of the nice people in Broome County," he said. "You have the
rest of your life to remember this." The bar is reopening as Merlin's, the name of Guiles's dog, on January 15.