Jury finds man robbed, killed a man he met at a bar in 2008

An Oklahoma man was sentenced to life in prison Friday after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder in the 2008 suffocation death of Coconut Creek resident Ralph Apuzzo.

Appuzo’s bound body was found by relatives at his home in late December 2008. Prosecutors Antonya Johnson and Molly McGuire said he was killed by two men he had met hours earlier at a Wilton Manors nightspot.

One of those men, James Gentry, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced Friday to life in prison by Broward Circuit Judge Michael Usan.

Gentry’s brother, Timothy Gentry, had already pleaded no contest in the same incident and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Timothy Gentry, the older of the two brothers, saved James Gentry’s life by promising prosecutors he would testify against him if they did not seek the death penalty.

With capital punishment off the table, Usan had no choice but to sentence Gentry to life in prison.

Timothy Gentry was sentenced in 2014 to 10 years in prison.

According to prosecutors and the defense, Gentry and his brother met the victim at a Wilton Manors bar in late May 2008. From there, the stories diverge. Timothy Gentry told the jury that he and his brother went home with Apruzzo, where they robbed him and left him to die.

Defense lawyer H. Dohn Williams, echoing his client’s testimony, said Timothy Gentry went home with the victim alone, James Gentry staying behind at the Wilton Manors bar to lure men into acts of prostitution. It was one such act before they left Wilton Manors, Williams said, that led to James Gentry’s DNA being found on the victim.

But Timothy Gentry said his brother was with him the whole time, and it was James’ idea to kill Apuzzo.

The jury believed Tim Gentry’s testimony, corroborated by the DNA evidence and other statements that demonstrated James Gentry never denied committing the crime even in private.

The jury took about six hours over two days to reach its decision.