TOWSON, Md. (AP) — A Maryland man has been sentenced to life in prison for a 2009 murder that stemmed from a drug payment dispute.

Gerald E. Sears was convicted of killing Scott Greenberg in the kitchen of his parents’ home in Owings Mills.

Prosecutors say the 33-year-old Sears shot Greenberg in the head and neck after Greenberg wouldn’t pay for crack cocaine that Sears was selling him. Investigators used cellphone records showing calls between Greenberg and Sears to help build a case against Sears.

Sears was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole in Baltimore County Circuit Court. He did not speak at his sentencing hearing, but his public defender asked for leniency.

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