A New Jersey man may spend the rest of his life in prison after refusing to spend $700 to pay his friend after losing a Super Bowl bet in 2013. Eddie Roberson killed Talif Crowley instead, Essex County prosecutors argued this month, and on Wednesday, a jury agreed, finding Roberson guilty of murder,NorthJersey.com reports. Roberson, 31, is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 22.
Roberson had bet on the San Francisco 49ers to beat the Baltimore Ravens at Super Bowl XLVII, prosecutors said. However, Roberson believed the 49ers, who lost 34-31, were cheated of a victory during the game that featured a 34-minute pause in the second half because of issues with the power, so he refused to pay Crowley who had bet on the Ravens. According to prosecutors, Roberson confronted Crowley two days after the game on a Newark street and shot him six times to kill him.
It is unclear what Roberson’s exact qualms about the game were, but the blackout was widely thought to have favored the 49ers, not the Ravens. PerThe Washington Post’s Cindy Boren:
The blackout may well have saved the game. The Ravens were dominating in the first half, but had to sit for a lengthy halftime and again for the lengthy outage. After power was restored, the 49ers (who had a blackout at Candlestick in 2011) were plugged in and made a classic game out of a rout.
The jury also found Roberson, who had three felony convictions already on his record, guilty of weapons charges.
“This was a particularly senseless murder of a man who was well liked in the neighborhood,” Assistant Prosecutor Adam B. Wells said (via NorthJersey.com) after the two-week trial. “This defendant killed a friend rather than pay up on a friendly bet. I’m glad the jury saw it for what it was.”
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