Man sentenced in burglary now will face murder trial
A North Carolina man charged with killing an 82-year-old man was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison for a separate crime.
Francis Sicola, 27, was convicted in June in the Aug. 27, 2008, armed burglary at the home of Erna and William Mack.
Sicola still faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of Joseph Wido, who was shot by an intruder in the early hours of Aug. 28, 2008. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.
The Macks and Widos lived about a mile from each other, although in different subdivisions.
Testimony at the armed burglary trial showed Sicola went to the Macks' home about 11 p.m.
Erna Mack, 75, said she heard a noise coming from the patio and looked through the blinds. She saw a man wearing a ski mask and holding a gun.
The man motioned to her to unlock a sliding door. Mack screamed for her husband, causing the man to run away.
Investigators determined the screen around the Macks' porch had been cut. Detectives said DNA testing linked Sicola to a ski mask found near the Widos' home.
Sicola testified he went to the Macks' house because he thought a drug dealer lived there. He said he planned to break into the house to steal drugs and money. Sicola denied having a gun but said he did have a knife.
Jurors found Sicola did not have a firearm.
Members of Sicola's family spoke at the sentencing hearing in hopes that Pasco Circuit Judge Crockett Farnell would not impose the maximum sentence of life in prison. Sicola faced at least 62 months behind bars.
Assistant State Attorney Eric Rosario asked Farnell to sentence Sicola to 30 years in prison, saying the defendant displayed a worrisome pattern of criminality.
"He's very nice when he wants to be," Rosario said. "But when he goes into criminal mode, he does it in a big way."
This won't be the first time Sicola has been imprisoned. He was just 15 when he was sentenced to 20 months for burglary and grand theft in 1998. He was released in 2000 but sent back two years later for violating probation.
Sicola was freed again in 2005.
The armed burglary took place only hours before someone broke into the Widos' Timber Oaks home. Investigators said the couple were awakened by an intruder in their bedroom.
Joseph Wido, a Bronze Star recipient, told the intruder, "I can take you on."
Sicola killed Wido with a single shot and tied up Roberta Wido, detectives said. He left her next to her husband, where she stayed until a neighbor found her 10 hours later.
Investigators said Sicola stole money and jewelry but didn't find the one thing he was looking for: prescription drugs.
He was arrested at his North Carolina home in January 2009 and extradited to Florida two months later.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/sep/04/pa-man-sentenced-in-burglary-now-will-face-murder-/news-pasco/
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