What Is the Sentence for First-Degree Murder in Philadelphia?
The selected court records describe life imprisonment for Rodrick Williams’s first-degree-murder jury conviction and Anwar Johnson’s first-degree-murder bench conviction. Williams’s December 2024 judgment was affirmed in November 2025. Johnson’s life sentence was imposed in May 2007; the March 2013 decision concerns denial of post-conviction relief, not a new sentence. Life is kept as a categorical outcome, not converted into a numerical range or proof of actual time served.
Read the Philadelphia sentence hub, methodology and editorial standards.
What the Offense Means
Under 18 Pa.C.S. section 2502(a), first-degree murder is an intentional killing. The statute defines intentional killing as willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing, including specified means.
Statutory Sentence
For an adult outside the juvenile provision, 18 Pa.C.S. section 1102(a) provides death or life imprisonment under the first-degree-murder sentencing procedure. The observed cases below both received life imprisonment. This adult framework is not applied to a juvenile record or used to reconstruct historical procedure. The selected life terms are reported judgments, not individualized statutory predictions.
Observed Philadelphia Outcomes
| Reported prosecution | Source-reported location, disposition and sentence scope |
|---|---|
| Case cluster 1 | Rodrick Williams: the November 5, 2025 opinion describes the April 7, 2021 fatal shooting on the 600 block of South 55th Street in Philadelphia. The jury found first-degree murder and three weapon offenses; the December 5, 2024 judgment imposed life for murder with the other sentences concurrent. The appellate court affirmed. Its footnote corrects the trial caption’s “Roderick” to Rodrick. A charged third-degree-murder count without a finding is not a second murder conviction. |
| Case cluster 2 | Anwar Johnson: the March 7, 2013 opinion recounts a February 6, 2007 bench first-degree-murder conviction and May 2, 2007 mandatory life sentence, with weapon sentences concurrent. Its West Philadelphia narrative places the fatal shooting in a moving car approaching Hollywood Palace between 52nd and 53rd Streets; 52nd and Walnut was an earlier stop, not the established shooting point. The decision affirms denial of post-conviction relief. It reports the direct judgment affirmed in 2009; it does not impose a new life term in 2013. |
Case Sources
Williams, November 5, 2025 opinion, printed pages 1–2 and 6, supports the corrected caption, convictions, concurrent scope and affirmance. Johnson, March 7, 2013 opinion, court-text copy, printed pages 1–6 and 9, supports the historical judgment, location narrative and post-conviction disposition. The official-host Johnson PDF was access-unverified during this audit; the relevant court-copy passages were actually read. Multiple hosts do not create independent cases.
Methodology
These are two described murder prosecutions, not a full Philadelphia dataset or interchangeable year endpoints. Johnson’s trial judgment, direct review and post-conviction decision are stages of one prosecution. Concurrent weapon terms do not add to the target life term. Independent municipal-point qualification and exhaustive later-review checks remain incomplete, so the reported locations and affirmances are not labeled unconditional full-city/finality certification. Relevant court passages were actually read September 28, 2026.
Official Law
Limit: Two selected cases cannot establish a typical result. General information only, not legal advice.