By Tom Momberg
The Bayside man accused of beating his mother to death in February 2011 entered a guilty plea last week to first-degree manslaughter, according to Queens DA Richard Brown.
Sentencing for Matthew Devlin, 49, has been slated for June 4. Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder said he would sentence Devlin to 21 years in prison and five years post-release supervision, according to Brown.
The defendant has been jailed for the past four years, held without bail.
In pleading guilty, Devlin admitted he had an argument with his mother and brother, during which he attacked both of them with an aluminum baseball bat, according to Brown.
“By his actions, the defendant has proven himself unfit for society,” Brown stated in a release. “While he will have to live with what he did for the rest of his life, the sentence to be imposed is more than warranted.”
When police arrived on the scene in response to a call of an assault on Feb. 12, 2011, they found Devlin’s mother, Elizabeth Devlin, in a second-floor bathroom with severe head injuries. She was transported to a hospital, where she remained in critical condition under a medically induced coma until her death five days later.
Matthew’s brother, John Devlin, then 54 years old, also suffered a head wound during the attack that took 35 staples to close.
~Tom Momberg
