A Drexel Hill man who shot his brother after death threats over a basketball game was sentenced to state prison

The Byrd brothers shared a last name, two parents, and a home in Drexel Hill. But the similarities ended there, according to testimony in Delaware County Court.

And in the end, their differences left one of them dead and the other convicted of murder and sentenced this week to five to 20 years in state prison.

Anthony Byrd, 22, was a small-time drug dealer who was violent and threatening, and terrorized his younger brother, Amir, their mother, and their younger sister, whom he once beat so severely that she required facial reconstruction surgery, according to court testimony.

Amir, by contrast, was an honor-roll student at Upper Darby High School, on track to be recruited to play either basketball or football at the University of Delaware.

But it was Amir Byrd, 20, who found himself before Delaware County Court Judge Anthony Scanlon this week, pleading guilty to third-degree murder for gunning down his older brother in what his attorney said was an act of self-defense after years of abuse.

Still, the judge said in sentencing him to prison, Byrd had no right to “act as judge, jury, and executioner.”

“No matter how bad someone is, no one is above or beneath the law,” he said. “If you violate the law, kill someone without a specific legal justification, you will be prosecuted.”

The path to that moment, prosecutors said, began with a game of pickup basketball on March 23, 2023. The Byrd brothers and some of their relatives had gone to the YMCA in Havertown for a game that ended in a defeat that Anthony Byrd “couldn’t accept,” according to Amir Byrd’s lawyer, Guy Sciola. Anthony Byrd, playing on the opposite team from his brother, was angry and threatened to kill him, Sciola said. .

Given his brother’s history of violence, Amir Byrd took those threats seriously, the lawyer said. Anthony Byrd had attacked his brother repeatedly as he tried get him to join him in dealing drugs, and he once fired a gun at their mother during an argument at their home, the mother, Alicia Byrd, said in court..

She said Anthony Byrd had become violent and controlling after her husband’s death years earlier, and frequently abused her verbally, physically, and emotionally.

Sciolla drew parallels to the biblical story of Cain and Abel in describing his client’s mindset.

“You have a bad son and a good son,” he said. “There was no love that could stop [Anthony Byrd] from doing what he wanted to do, and in [Amir Byrd’s] mind, his thoughts were on the safety of himself and his family, after being threatened throughout the day.”

When the brothers arrived home, Anthony Byrd continued to threaten and harass his family, Sciola said. In response, he said, Amir Byrd went to his room, retrieved and loaded a handgun, and went downstairs and shot his brother.

Investigators recovered nine shell casings in the Byrd family’s living room. Anthony Byrd had been shot multiple times, and was pronounced dead at the scene. Detectives retrieved a Glock .40-caliber handgun.

Prosecutor said there were no other weapons at the scene, and no indication that Anthony Byrd had been armed. Assistant District Attorney Gina Gorbey argued for a sentence of 20 to 40 years because regardless of the circumstances, she said, Byrd had taken a life. .

“While I understand Anthony had a past and some don’t speak very highly of him, he’s still a life, he’s still a human being,” she said. “And we don’t live in a world where you can kill someone because you don’t like them or they’re a bad person.”

Judge Scanlon noted that Byrd had no previous arrests and had been a model prisoner in the months he was in custody after his arrest, obtaining his GED and tutoring other inmates. And yet, he said, murder required a lengthy prison term.