CHARLESTON — A man living out of a North Charleston motel who later killed its owner seemingly over unpaid bills will spend the rest of his life in prison.

A Charleston County jury took about six hours to find Darnell Brown, 37, guilty of murder in the killing of Jagdishbhai Rmanhai Patel's in June 2022. The judge who presided over the Charleston County Circuit Court trial sentenced Brown to life without parole on June 6. Brown had two prior convictions for armed robberies, making him eligible for a mandatory life sentence under state law.

"This was a very troubling case in that I could never quite understand why Mr. Patel was shot," Judge Roger Young said. "Whatever reason might have existed in your mind did not justify what happened to him."

Prosecutors argued Brown killed Patel, 68

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