LANCASTER, Pa. — A Lancaster man will serve up to 35 years in prison following a conviction for attempted murder and other charges relating to a shooting that severely injured another man in 2021, the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office said Friday.
Daijour L. Stennett, 32, of the 700 block of West Vine Street, was also convicted of aggravated assault and carrying a firearm without a license following a three-day trial last December, the DA's Office said.
Lancaster County Judge Jeffrey Wright sentenced him to a prison term of 17½ to 35 years at a hearing Tuesday afternoon.
“I find it difficult to explain which part of this crime I find the worst,” prosecuting Assistant District Attorney Christopher Miller said during the sentencing proceeding. “This is one of the worst attempted homicide cases I have seen in my career. To this day, (Stennett) believes what he did was right.”
During the sentencing hearing, Miller showed a self-recorded video – that was admitted as evidence during trial – from the defendant’s phone of him driving past the victim’s home, cackling and taunting the victim out of the window, and getting out of his car and firing five shots at the victim, hitting him four times.
Stennett then pauses for approximately four seconds before firing a sixth and final shot at the victim, who was on the ground.
At trial it was revealed that Stennett told police he thought the victim deserved it.
“A just sentence today is life in prison,” Miller said. “The only reason the defendant won’t get that is because the victim refused to die.”
Defense counsel argued self-defense during trial and said during the sentencing proceeding that the crime was “an aberration in (the defendant’s) life” and that Stennett had no history of violence.
Wright noted the defendant was in a car and could have left the situation and driven away, but rather got out of his car with a gun and confronted the victim before shooting him outside of his own home.
Wright also cited the defendant’s extensive criminal history with convictions on seven dockets and a probation violation and agreed with Miller that the only reason this wasn’t a life sentence was because the victim miraculously survived.
The mandatory sentence for criminal homicide is life in prison.
The shooting Stennett was convicted of occurred on Nov. 4, 2021, according to evidence presented at trial.
East Hempfield Township Police Officer Torres reported shots fired in the 100 block of Hershey Ave. at approximately 8:41 a.m. The officer was on the way to take a dog to the SPCA when he heard two popping sounds and observed a man with a gun, who entered a black 2008 Mercedes Benz.
Manheim Township Police responded to the scene and tended to the victim, who was lying on the sidewalk suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
Stennett was convicted by jury Dec. 7, 2022, of shooting at the victim six times, striking him four times – once in the left shoulder, once on the left side, once in the right shoulder and once in the head. Several shots were aimed at the victim’s back, according to testimony at trial.
The victim suffered a fractured skull, spine, a broken shoulder blade and bleeding in his chest due to the shooting.
The victim testified he continues to suffer lingering injuries such as weakness and arthritis in his left shoulder and arm, seizures that he needs to take medications to treat and PTSD.
