A Silver Spring man was sentenced on Friday to 30 years in prison for the strangulation death of a sleeping 17-year-old more than two years ago.
Tysean Lipford, 22, of Silver Spring, was found guilty of second-degree murder by a jury in January.
The sentence handed down by Circuit Court Judge Terrance McGann was the maximum penalty.
The sentence “shows the severity of this crime,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office spokesman Ramon Korionoff said in a statement.
Police responded to the report of a suspicious situation in a residence at 1021 Mondrian Terrace in Silver Spring on March 21, 2017, according to charging documents. Several occupants reported a commotion in the basement of the home.
The basement was occupied by Christian Leroy Matthews. Officers found him unresponsive with bruises on his neck, according to charging documents. Matthews was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.
Detectives said Matthews did not get along with Lipford and brought Lipford in for questioning.
Lipford told police that he overheard Matthews state over the telephone that he intended to kill Lipford and his family.
Lipford told officers he entered the Matthews’s bedroom while he was asleep and placed him in a choke hold until he became unresponsive, according to charging documents. He then left the residence.
A public defender representing Lipford did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Charlie Wright can be reached at charlie.wright@moco360.media
