Modified: January 31, 2018 5:30pm
Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces a jury has found 22-year-old Christian Gillie of Buffalo guilty of one count of Murder in the Second Degree, one count of Manslaughter in the First Degree and two counts of Burglary in the First Degree.
On August 9, 2016, at approximately 2:00 a.m., the defendant broke into the residence of 23-year-old Robert Wheeler of Lackawanna and fatally stabbed him inside his Johnson Street home. The defendant was arrested nearby by Lackawanna Police.
Gillie faces 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced by Erie County Court Judge Kenneth F. Case on Monday, March 26 at 9:30 a.m. The defendant remains remanded without bail.
DA Flynn commends the Lackawanna Police Department for their thorough investigative work.
The case was prosecuted by Colleen Curtin Gable, Chief of DA Flynn’s Homicide Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Nathanael C. Kapperman.