Drug dealer who planned murder gets life sentence

A Baltimore drug dealer who orchestrated the death of a witness from the city jail was sentenced Monday to life without parole.

Patrick A. Byers Jr., 24, was convicted last month in the slaying of Carl S. Lackl Jr., who had identified Byers as the gunman in a previous killing. Lackl, a 38-year-old single father, was killed outside his home in 2007, a week before Byers’ trial. Lackl had planned to testify against Byers despite warnings from his family that his life was in danger.