A man shot and blinded while he was trying to steal a motorcycle in 2011 was convicted by a federal jury Wednesday and will now face at least five years behind bars, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
Mark Sanders, 23, of Philadelphia, along with a partner, used Craigslist to connect with a man interested in selling his dirt bike, authorities said. Sanders and his partner asked for the seller to start and then rev the bike. When the seller, who was with some friends, asked for money, however, Sanders pulled a gun.
Sanders’s partner took off with the bike but a relative of the seller saw what happened and “took his own, legally-owned, handgun to the scene,” prosecutors said. “When Sanders would not respond to the relative’s order to stop and, instead, turned to point his gun at the seller’s relative, the seller’s relative fired his weapon, shooting Sanders in the temple rendering him blind."
It took the jury two hours to convict Sanders on various robbery offenses and using a firearm during the commission of a crime.
His sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled. He could face up to life in prison.