Baltimore County Circuit Judge Thomas Bollinger heard David Burton?s story of woe ? how he dropped out of school at 13, turned to heroin, and had a mother who convinced him to commit an armed robbery that almost killed her manager at a Fullerton Denny?s.

But Bollinger didn?t see Burton?s drug addiction as a reason for leniency. He sentenced the 29-year-old man on Tuesday to 70 years in prison for attempted murder.