Pittsburgh man sentenced to 15 to 38 years for murder of Johnstown man
Dec. 20—EBENSBURG — Cambria County President Judge Norman Krumenacker III sentenced Michael Cogdell, of Pittsburgh, to 15 to 38 years in prison for the murder of Marvin Price, 41, of Johnstown.
Price died from multiple gunshot wounds in his car in Moxham on Jan. 23.
Surveillance video from that day reportedly showed Cogdell walking on Park Avenue when a vehicle driven by Price slowed down as it passed him, then made a U-turn and parked.
Cogdell was seen in the footage approaching the vehicle and leaning into the front seat, then sprinting away, according to police, who also recovered Cogdell's cellphone.
After being extradited from Las Vegas, Cogdell, who was 18 years old at the time of the crime, entered a guilty plea to the charge of criminal homicide. His attorney, John Messina, worked on the plea agreement with prosecutors of the Cambria County District Attorney's office.
After being held for nine months at the Cambria County Prison in Ebensburg Cogdell was sentenced on Tuesday, appearing with Messina, who spoke on his behalf.
"He made poor choices in life as a young man that led him to that day," Messina said. "We've worked hard with the commonwealth on a sentence that gives justice for the victim's family and hopefully gives Mr. Cogdell a chance to rehabilitate."
The sentence includes time served at Cambria County Prison since March.
"Hopefully if he does well, he'll be done with his sentence and out in his late 30s or early 40s, and change the path he was on," Messina said.
Krumenacker accepted the sentence based on pre-sentence reports, sentencing guidelines and statements of Price's family. Price's high-school-aged daughter read a letter she titled "A letter to my father's killer."
"You've destroyed me," she said. "You took away part of my heart that can never be replaced. You took away getting picked up from school, father-daughter dates, and my siblings are now separated because of your heinous actions. ... He will never see me graduate high school, college or walk down the aisle. ... You should ask God for forgiveness, because I may never have any for you."
Price's mother, Candace Price, followed with statements of her own.
"Marvin was my oldest son, a good son to me, and a good father," she said. "I haven't cried yet. It seems he is on vacation. You took him away from a son that was just born in August. You didn't have to shoot him that many times. You could have walked away and you didn't. I'm in pain, but I forgive you because God says, 'Vengeance is mine.' I hope you've thought about what you've done and come back to become a better man."
Russ O'Reilly is a reporter for The Tribune- Democrat. Follow him on Twitter @RussellOReilly.
