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Sentence For Jessup Stabbing Death

SCRANTON — A man from Lackawanna County learned his sentence Thursday for killing an 18 year old in 2011. Dylan Ostrowski was sentenced to four and a half...

SCRANTON -- A man from Lackawanna County learned his sentence Thursday for killing an 18 year old in 2011.

Dylan Ostrowski was sentenced to four and a half to nine years in state prison after a fight planned on Facebook turned deadly.

This has been a contentious case for the two families involved. Dylan Ostrowski and another man, Lawrence Atkinson planned the fight on Facebook in November of 2011. But Ostorwski brought a knife with him, stabbed Atkinson, and Atkinson later died.

For that, Dylan Ostrowski will spend several years in state prison.

In the sentencing hearing, a Lackwanna County judge again laid out the unfortunate facts. In November 2011, an online fight between two girls turned into a planned physical fight in Jessup between 18-year-old Lawrence Atkinson, 18, from Jessup and Ostrowski, 19, of Carbondale.

Ostrowski was charged with homicide for stabbing and killing Atkinson during that fight. He later pleaded no contest to manslaughter charges.

A year and a half later, the families of those two young men met again to hear Ostrowski's sentence.

Sentence For Jessup Stabbing Death

"It's been very hard, I wouldn't wish this on any parent. I mean, boys will be boys. They have fist fights but you don't bring a weapon to a fist fight. You just don't."

In the courtroom, Dylan Ostrowski said he wished he'd taken the high road when Atkinson challenged him to the fight that day but the fact that Ostowski brought along a weapon added to his sentence.

"He apologized to the judge. He didn't turn and apologize to us at all so as I'm concerned, his apology doesn't mean anything to me," said the victim's father Lawrence Atkinson.

Atkinson's father said he had wished for a longer sentence for his son's killer but acknowledged that both families have lost a son.

"He already did a year and a half, he'll get out and have a life. My boy will never have a life."

Dylan Ostrowski will get credit for the year and half he's already served behind bars. We spoke with Ostrowski's family, but they didn't want to go on camera. They say their son was severely injured by Atkinson in the fight. The judge handling the sentence brought that up, saying that if Ostrowski did not  bring a knife, both young men could have been killed.

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