SAVANNAH, Ga. - A 19-year-old convicted of killing two teen-agers outside a high school dance was sentenced to two life terms plus 35 years in prison, the maximum sentence for the crimes.
A lesser punishment for Darrell Ingram, 19, would have trivialized the lives of his victims, Superior Court Judge Penny Haas Freesemann said in issuing the sentence Friday.
''There's just no reason why these horrors happen,'' Freesemann said.
Ingram was found guilty last month of felony murder and other charges for opening fire with a semiautomatic weapon outside a dance on March 10 as students celebrated a girls' basketball team victory.
Ramone Kimble, 16, a Savannah High School student, and Stacy Smalls, 19, who was not a student, were killed. A third teen-ager was injured. All three students were shot in the back as they fled.
The judge rejected a defense request to delay sentencing to allow Ingram to undergo a psychological evaluation and IQ test. Ingram's lawyer had argued that another man shot the students, and Ingram, a high school dropout, had fired shots into the air.
