A Lancaster city man was sentenced to life in prison plus 7 ½ to 20 years after being convicted by a jury of first-degree homicide, person not to possess a firearm and possessing a firearm without a license.
 
Raymond Lydell Speller, 40, will spend the rest of his life in prison after being sentenced by Lancaster County Judge Jeffery Wright last Friday for the 2019 killing of Pedro Almodovar, 36.
 
On September 23, 2019, Lancaster Bureau of Police responded to the 300 block of Howard Ave. for a report of a shooting. Upon arrival, officers found a deceased male. 
 
Surveillance footage showed that Almodovar was in the front passenger seat of a parked red SUV with a female driver.  A friend of Speller’s walked past the vehicle, said “what’s up” to the pair and walked away. The friend walked to another residence on Howard Ave. and entered. A few moments later, Speller and the friend exited that same residence. The friend stayed on the porch while Speller approached the car on the passenger side before firing one shot that struck Almodovar in the torso.
 
While at the scene of the homicide, officers and detectives smelled an odor of smoke and heard a fire alarm coming from the same Hillrise Apartment residence that Speller and his friend had entered and exited. The fire was eventually determined to be caused by food left unattended on a hot stove. Speller’s driver’s license was found on a table in plain sight inside the residence. This, along with additional evidence, helped authorities determine Speller as the shooter.
 
Speller was found guilty by jury on May 28 after a three-day trial on charges of first-degree homicide, persons not to possess a firearm and carrying a firearm without a license. Speller had prior felony convictions and had been released from federal prison in 2018.
 
Speller, dressed in a grey jumpsuit with shackles, had no reaction to the sentence, but apologized to the victim’s family saying he was not in the right state of mind.
 
Almodovar’s sister read a statement to the court before the judge handed down the sentence. “I have an emptiness that will never be filled and my brother will never be replaced,” she said while saying the family was doing its best to forgive Speller. “We have two losses here: my brother and his.”
 
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Ponessa prosecuted the case.
 
“This was a senseless killing,” Ponessa stated to the judge after reading the facts of the case. “After the killing he just walked away. He didn’t show a shred of remorse after killing another human.”
 
“Our community will be a little bit safer,” Judge Wright said after reading his sentence to the court and before addressing the victim’s family. “I wish you the best recovery you can possibly have from this,” he said.
 
ADA Kyle Linardo assisted with the prosecution of the case.
 
Lancaster City Bureau of Police Detective Todd Grager filed charges.

MEDIA CONTACT: Sean McBryan, semcbryan@co.lancaster.pa.us; Twitter: @SeanMcBryanLanc.