The gunman in a quadruple murder in Bucks County will remain in prison for at least 80 more years

A Camden man whose life sentence in a quadruple Bucks County murder was vacated because of a Supreme Court decision was resentenced Monday to a prison term that will keep him behind bars until he is at least 97.

Lawyers for Ivory King had sought to have him released on time served for the 24 years he’s spent in state prison for fatally shooting four people at a crowded Memorial Day party in Bristol Township in 1998. County prosecutors, by contrast, asked the judge to keep King in jail for more than 120 years in a “de-facto life sentence.”

County Court Judge Rea Boylan landed somewhere in the middle and sentenced King to 80 years to life.

“While I do not believe he has taken full responsibility for his crimes he has committed, I do think he has demonstrated a capacity for change,” Boylan said.

Afterward, the families of King’s victims gathered in the courthouse hallway for a group hug, thanking each other and God for the outcome of a case that has spanned generations.

King, 41, was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Jackie Wilson, 27; SaPhil “Phil’' Taylor, 19; Milika Brinson, 22; and Anthony Jackson, 37.

All four were collateral damage in an attempted attack on a rival drug dealer, prosecutors said. King, then 17, crashed a crowded party at the Venice Ashby housing projects, looking for his target. He “assassinated” the four victims, Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub said Monday.

» READ MORE: A man who killed four people in Bucks County as a teen is fighting to have his life sentences overturned

King’s attorney, Caroline Heller, told Boylan in her closing argument that King has spent his time in prison reflecting and considering the crime and its impact. He is truly remorseful for his actions, she said, a feeling that only got stronger in 2010 after he met with one of his victims’ daughters, Tanya Jackson.

He became an active participant in cognitive behavioral therapy programs, according to Heller, receiving glowing reviews from prison staff, who called him a model inmate and praised his efforts at mentoring his younger peers.

“Mr. King did not believe at the time ... that he would have a chance to be released,” she said. “His conduct was because he knew it was the right thing to do and he wanted to change his life.”

King took responsibility for his crime, she said, while experts called by the defense found factors in his childhood that they said contributed to his behavior.

His father was abusive and absent for most of his life, Heller said, and refused to get him treatment for ADHD. This, in turn, “exacerbated” his poor decision making and impulsive behavior, and led him to seek affirmation in older men who introduced him to drug dealing.

“Nothing that he says is intended to absolve him of his crimes,” Heller said. “He admits to it, he owns it, and he’s doing what he can to prevent further harm to the community.”

Citing a 2016 Supreme Court decision that life sentences were improper for juveniles in most cases, Heller asked the judge to free him after more than two decades in prison.

“The Commonwealth will get up here and try to paint Mr. King as a two-dimensional being. They will only talk about his worst,” she said. “It is clear over the last 24 years the improvements he made. Ivory can change, Ivory has changed, and he deserves another chance at life.”

Weintraub sharply disagreed with that sentiment, saying King had not demonstrated remorse.

“The defendant is not taking responsibility for his crimes,” Weintraub said. “He’s taking responsibility for the result of his crime.”

Weintraub noted that while King has admitted to firing his gun on the night of the shooting, he has consistently said he never intended to kill the victims. This, he said, ran counter to the facts of the case. The evidence shows that King killed Jackson first, then continued to walk toward, and into, the house, stepping over Wilson’s body to fire at Taylor and Brinson, the district attorney said.

“This is a mass murderer, your honor, who is asking to be set free,” Weintraub said, adding that King had “earned” the 40- to 52-year sentences for each victim that he asked the judge to set.

Weintraub said King should be credited for the progress he made in prison. But he also cited King’s negative behavior while behind bars, including some violent conflicts.

He told Boylan that releasing someone who “killed four people in cold blood” would be a risk to the community. Further, he said, giving King concurrent sentences for each murder would be an insult to the families of the victims, whose grief he said was as strong now, 24 years later, as it was on the day of the shooting.

“Whose life is worth less? Frankly, whose life is worthless?” Weintraub said. “None of them — not Anthony Jackson, Milika Brinson, SaPhil Taylor, or Jackie Wilson — none of them are worth more than the other.

“What is the price that the defendant must pay for their murders?” he asked. “The price must equal the cost.”