Juvenile Lifer To Get New Sentence In Bristol Twp. Quadruple Killing

Ivory King was only 17 years old when he shot four people dead and wounded a fifth at a 1998 Memorial Day party in Bristol Township.

In October 1998, King, then a resident of Camden, came before now-former Bucks County Court of Common Pleas Judge Kenneth Biehn to enter a guilty plea on four counts of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison without parole.

Now, at age 41, King was back in a Bucks County courtroom on Friday as part of a resentencing that follows state and federal court decisions that overturned life sentences for those who were juveniles when they were sentenced to life.

According to prosecutors, King went to a Memorial Day weekend party in the Venice Ashby section of the township early in the morning of May 23, 1998 and opened fire at unit K-55 along Beaver Dam Road. He killed Anthony Jackson, 37; Jackie Wilson, 27; SaPhil Taylor, 19; and Milika Brinson, 22, all of Bristol Township. A then-21-year-old Bensalem Township woman was struck in the head with a bullet but survived.

King and two co-defendants fled to New Jersey before being caught. King, at the time, had threated to kill Bristol Township Detective Greg Beidler, who currently works for the district attorney’s office and was in court Friday.

Bucks County Court of Common Pleas Senior Judge Rea Boylan is overseeing the resentencing. Boylan has handled other resentencing cases for juvenile lifers.

Testimony and evidence was presented all day Friday at the Justice Center in Doylestown Borough. Boylan is expected to hand down the new sentence on Monday.

The district attorney’s office is seeking to keep King behind bars for the rest of his life, while his defense is making the case he should have a chance at parole soon.

District Attorney Matt Weintraub is leading the prosecution. The county’s top law enforcement official personally leading the prosecution is rare.

King testified on Friday afternoon and expressed remorse to the victims’ families. He stated he is a changed man.

“I wish I could go back and change things, but I can’t and I live with that every day,” he said.

Family of the four murder victims and King made up much of the audience from Friday’s portion of the resentencing. Boylan acknowledged the case was difficult for the families to have to sit through again.

Tanya Jackson, who was a teenager when her father was murdered, read a victim impact statement before the court.

“My father, my hero, my best friend is gone,” she said. “My father was a great man.”

Jackson’s father had only gone to the party to see family and was much older than most attendees.

The victim’s daughter told the judge she had dreams of her dad walking her down the aisle and meeting her kids. But with his murder, those dreams of a then-teenage girl went up in smoke.

“My father was robbed of his life,” she said. “We were robbed of his physical presence.”

When asked by the judge, Tanya Jackson said it has been tough to explain to her sons what took their grandfather’s life. She said her one son is autistic and now assumes that when someone dies they died from gun violence.

Poultry Womack, victim Wilson’s daughter, was 5 when her mom was killed.

“He has taken everything from me,” she said of King.

The 29-year-old woman, now a mother herself, told the judge she grew up seeing friends spending time with their moms and she was often at home crying over being unable to share in those moments with her mom.

Womack said she has anxiety when parties happen because she worries something bad will occur.

“I never had the chance to go to a mother-and-daughter dance or a nail appointment with her,” Shaffona Womack, Wilson’s other daughter, told the court.

Shaffona Womack said her younger brother was too young at the time of the murders to recall anything of his mother.

Madaline Wilson, Jackie Wilson’s niece, recalled her aunt as a kind woman.

“I’m hoping Mr. Ivory does not get released from prison,” she said. “He took so many lives.”

Lynn Beard, through a statement ready by her grandson Ian Graham, said she will not forget her son SaPhil Taylor, a father of two.

Taylor’s sister, who was 16 at the time of the murder, said his death left a “constant void that can not be fulfilled by anything or anyone.”

Chris Taylor said when his nephew left the house that night, he had no idea it would be his last time seeing the young man alive.

“Phil wasn’t a bad kid,” he said. “He just went to a party that night.”

Michelle Fant, Brinson’s sister, said the loss has devastated the family.

“We visit her gravesite regularly to keep her in-tune with the family,” she said.

“The loss of my daughter has a had a huge impact on my life,” said Arlenia Binson, the victim’s mother.

The murder has caused great “hurt and pain” for Brinson’s daughter, who was a child at the time, she added.

The families were aided in court by staff from the Network of Victim Assistance (NOVA) Bucks County.

Report a correction via email | Editorial standards and policies

---

---