SKOWHEGAN — A Detroit man who admitted to killing his father in July 2011 in Cambridge has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Angelo Licata, 34, pleaded guilty in June to murdering Alfred Licata, 63, whose body was found on a lawn near his home on Ham Hill Road the night of July 21.

“This was an act that was not committed intentionally,” Frank Griffin, one of Licata’s court-appointed defense lawyers, said in June. “Angelo did not have any intent; it was not premeditated. It was a heat-of-the-moment issue that went way, way too far.”

Licata was sentenced Wednesday in Somerset County Superior Court.

Griffin said his client has no memory of the attack on his father.

“He remembers just before. He remembers just after,” Griffin said. “He certainly acknowledges that he caused his father’s death. He obviously confessed to it.”

Licata originally had pleaded not guilty to the charge, but reversed it, in part he said in June, to bring closure to his family, Griffin said.

“He wanted to take responsibility for his actions,” Griffin said. “He wanted his family to know that he wished this never happened. He honestly loved his father.”

Alfred Licata’s wife, Arlene, told police she heard banging and yelling coming from the first floor of the house and found blood all over the kitchen. She dialed 911 from a neighbor’s house and said she saw her son Angelo’s vehicle in the driveway, according to court documents.

The state medical examiner said the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.

Angelo Licata turned himself in at the Waterville Police Department after the killing.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Benson, who prosecuted the case, said the sentencing range for Licata was 25-30 years in prison.

“We appreciate Mr. Licata’s acceptance of responsibility in his decision not to go to trial,” Benson said Thursday. “We also think Justice (John) Nivison imposed the appropriate sentence in refusing to give Mr. Licata less than the maximum under the plea agreement. We agreed if he pleaded guilty the maximum we would recommend would be 30.”

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com

 

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