A Connecticut man convicted of manslaughter for killing his girlfriend’s husband on Easter Sunday last year was sentenced Thursday at the Penobscot Judicial Center to 26 years in prison with all but 18 years suspended.
Antoinne “Prince” Bethea, 42, of New Haven and Bangor killed Terrance Durel Sr., 36, of New Orleans on April 16, 2017, outside the home Bethea shared with Durel’s estranged wife, Danielle Lane Durel, 44, at 2 Highland Ave. He claimed he acted in self-defense after Durel sent a threatening text to his estranged wife.
An emotional Bethea apologized to Durel’s family for his loss.
“I empathize with loss because I too have endured similar tragedies,” he said. “It was never my intention for anyone to be hurt,” he said of Durel’s death.
Durel’s mother, Theresa Reed of New Orleans, dismissed Bethea’s apology after the sentencing.
“His apology didn’t mean anything to me because it could have been avoided,” she told reporters outside the courthouse. “He didn’t have to go in and take that gun. His family apologized to me and I appreciate that because I understand that it didn’t have anything to do with them.”
As a 10-year-old boy, Bethea witnessed his mother’s murder by his stepfather, he said. A brother was killed a short time later.
“From that day forward, life was never normal,” he said of his mother’s death.
Bethea asked the judge to send him to prison for as little time as possible so that he could be a father to his six children. He also told Murray that he wanted to attend community college while in prison to earn a business degree and start up his dog breeding business again.
A jury of three women and nine men deliberated last month for three hours before finding Bethea guilty of manslaughter but not guilty of murder following a six-day trial.
Shortly before his trial began, Bethea rejected a plea deal where he would have pleaded guilty to manslaughter in exchange for a recommendation from the prosecution that he serve 25 years in prison.
In addition to prison time, Superior Court Justice Ann Murray sentenced Bethea to four years of probation.
On Thursday, Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea recommend Bethea serve the maximum sentence of 30 years. Defense attorney Hunter Tzovarras urged the judge to limit the time Bethea would serve to between 10 and 12 years.
Outside the courthouse, Reed told that reporters the she was “not impressed” with the sentence.
“I thought that he would get the maximum,” she said. “I was hoping for the maximum. This way here, he’ll be out in 18 years and with good behavior, he’ll be out before that. My son is still gone, so I’m not impressed at all.”
Bethea has been held without bail since his arrest during a traffic stop in Euclid, Ohio, in May 2017.
Zainea told the judge that Bethea has a long criminal history out of state and for most of his life has been a drug dealer. His criminal history dates back to 1994 in Connecticut, the prosecutor said. Zainea said that the aggravating factors, including his flight, outweigh the mitigating ones.
“This defendant has been unable to live within the confines of the law not once, not twice, but many times,” Zainea said in recommending the maximum sentence without a period of probation.
Tzovarras told Murray that the chain of events that led to Durel’s death began with him threatening his estranged wife. The defense attorney also said that Durel had drugs in his system when he showed up uninvited at the apartment.
“His criminal history is an aggravating factor but it has nothing to do with this incident and there’s nothing in his criminal history to predict it,” Tzovarras told the judge.
In sentencing Bethea, Murray said that Bethea’s criminal history, which began when he was 18, was an “incredibly serious aggravating factor” in the case. She also noted that Bethea was on probation for a 2011 conviction and as a felon was barred from possessing guns when the shooting took place in a highly populated neighborhood.
In sentencing Bethea, Murray said that she considered the early death of his mother, the support expressed by his family and his genuine remorse to be mitigating factors.
During his trial, Bethea took the stand in his own defense. He testified that he was fighting with Durel’s friend, Stephen “Primo” Lancaster, 38, of Las Vegas, when the gun fired and struck Durel, who was nearby, in the leg and stomach.
“I don’t know who pulled the trigger,” Bethea testified. “I don’t know where Durel was. He was never on the ground with me and Mr. Lancaster.”
Bethea’s testimony contradicted Lancaster, who told the jury that he “tackled” Bethea and Durel after the two began fighting outside the apartment Bethea shared with Durel’s estranged wife. All three men were on the ground “scuffling” when the gun discharged, Lancaster told the jury.
Bethea cut off his dreadlocks and fled Bangor a few hours after the shooting, according to testimony.
Tzovarras said outside the courthouse that Bethea’s conviction and sentence would be appealed to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
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