Man gets 40 to life for California church shooting

MARTINEZ, Calif. – A California man who shot two people inside a church last year has been sentenced to 40 years to life in prison.

Despite pleas from the family of 20-year-old Marcel Buggs for leniency, a judge handed down the sentence Friday during an emotional hearing.

Buggs of Richmond was convicted in July of three counts of attempted murder, commercial burglary and gang charges for a Valentine's Day 2010 shooting at New Gethsemane Church of God in Christ in Richmond.

During the trial, prosecutors told jurors that Buggs shot and wounded two brothers inside the church but had intended to hit the brothers' older sibling, who was in a rival gang.

The Contra Costa Times (http://bit.ly/tHFYZ9 ) reports that during Friday's sentencing, Buggs sobbed as his mother, Stacey Porter, told the judge that her son suffered from mental illness.

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Information from: Contra Costa Times, http://www.contracostatimes.com