A Philadelphia man who shot and killed an unarmed Upper Darby father during a street dispute in East Lansdowne last September has been sentenced to 6 to 12 years in state prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter, a dramatic reduction from the first-degree murder charge he originally faced. Marquise Smith, now 28, was ordered to serve three years of consecutive probation, forfeit the firearm used in the shooting, and pay $5,000 in restitution to the family of 39-year-old Jermaine Richardson, who died at the scene after being shot multiple times in the chest.
The shooting happened at about 7:45 p.m. on September 6, 2025, on the 100 block of Wildwood Avenue in East Lansdowne, following a dispute between Smith and Richardson, according to police. As Delco Times reports, Smith is from the 5400 block of Media Street in Philadelphia, while Richardson lived on the 200 block of Blanchard Road in Upper Darby. According to an affidavit, Smith told detectives that Richardson approached him on the sidewalk and that he fired multiple times at close range.
Court records show Smith was arrested the day after the shooting and initially charged with criminal homicide, first-degree murder, third-degree murder, and possession of an instrument of crime, according to Daily Voice. He was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Justice Hopper and remanded to Delaware County Prison without bail, per MyChesCo. Smith was given credit for time served since September 7, and he is not eligible for early release.
How a Murder Charge Became a Manslaughter Plea
Under Pennsylvania law, an intentional killing can be classified as voluntary manslaughter rather than murder if the perpetrator acted under sudden, intense passion caused by serious provocation, or held an unreasonable belief that deadly force was justified, according to Shuttleworth Law. That legal threshold lines up with the defense's account of what happened on Wildwood Avenue. Defense attorney David Nenner told the court that Richardson had pushed Smith's ex-girlfriend to the ground, that Richardson threatened to pop Smith, and that Richardson reached for his waist before Smith fired in response. Voluntary manslaughter is graded as a first-degree felony in Pennsylvania, carrying a maximum statutory penalty of up to 20 years in state prison and a $25,000 fine, according to FindLaw. Deputy District Attorney Laurie Moore, who prosecuted the case alongside Assistant District Attorney Rachel Sweeney, said the negotiated sentence was appropriate, while also acknowledging there was a lack of justification for the killing. Moore told the court she could not fill in the final moments of Smith's life for his family or bring Richardson back.
Richardson was unarmed when he was killed, a detail that weighed heavily on his family throughout Common Pleas Court Judge G. Michael Green's sentencing hearing. A video of the event was referenced by family members but was not shown in court.
A Family Divided Between Grief and Anger
Several of Richardson's family members addressed the judge directly. His older sister described him as kind, thoughtful and loving, and said she was furious over his killing. Richardson's aunt, who shared a birthday with him, said six to twelve years was insufficient for her pain and told Smith directly, “you never gave him a chance.” Richardson's father said the family must move on without him, and that he had helped repair his relationship with his estranged children before his death. Family members said Richardson acted like a father to his close-knit family, and that his younger siblings are now dealing with depression and anxiety.
Nenner extended condolences to Richardson's family during the hearing, though at one point he told the family to shut up during his statements to the court and later apologized for the remark. Smith himself told Richardson's family he never intended for the shooting to happen, and said he heard the family's pain and took responsibility for it. Smith's own family members described him as a good kid who stayed to himself and did what he was supposed to do, and the court heard that he had no prior contacts with law enforcement, maintained steady employment as a medical aide, and had previously worked with disabled children at the YMCA of Delaware County.
A Rare Multi-Agency Response in a Tiny Borough
The scale of the police response reflected how unusual a homicide is in East Lansdowne. Five local police departments — East Lansdowne, Lansdowne, Yeadon, Upper Darby, and Darby — along with the Delaware County District Attorney's Office of Criminal Investigations, responded to process the scene, according to the East Lansdowne Police Department's statement carried by MyChesCo. East Lansdowne Police Detective Sergeant Kevin Myers and Delaware County CID Detective James McIntosh led the investigation.
East Lansdowne is a compact borough covering just 0.2 square miles with roughly 2,714 residents, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, making major violent crime incidents uncommon there. Countywide, Delaware County recorded about 203 violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, a rate lower than the Pennsylvania state average, per FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data compiled by NookLocal. Richardson's death was also logged by the National Gun Violence Memorial as part of national tracking of gun violence deaths.
