Family of 73-year-old beaten to death by teens with traffic cones calls rulings ‘slap on the wrist’

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — In June 2022, James Lambert, 73, was beaten to death with traffic cones by a group of teens in the city’s Brewerytown neighborhood.

About a month later, two of the teens, a 13-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, were charged as adults with third-degree murder. Last month, Judge Barbara McDermott tossed charges against the now 16-year-old boy, who was considered the instigator of the attack. He remained in the adult court system while the girl’s case was moved to the juvenile court system, where she was sentenced to five years with time served, part house arrest, part in an institution.

Lambert’s family says they are frustrated with the justice system — his niece, Tania Stephens, calling the outcomes a “slap on the wrist.”

“I am not pleased with the decision the courts made, and my family is not pleased as well,” she said.

Pennsylvania law prohibits a juvenile’s record from being public, but Stephens says the girl pleaded guilty to some charges and noted how she stood up and made a statement to her family, expressing sorrow, saying she’s sorry for taking part in Lambert’s murder.

“At least she made an attempt to apologize for her actions and, yes, she was a child, and maybe, yes, part of her had not developed and she was not aware that her actions took the life of my uncle,” Stephens said.

As for the boy, the District Attorney’s office has filed an appeal to the higher court, asking for charges to be reinstated.

“He was the one who took the first cone and he threw the first blow, nonetheless, even though my uncle started to run,” Stephens said.

Stephens has since turned her grief into action and now volunteers as a victim advocate to help other families, in honor of her uncle.

“A gem, putting out one of the lights in the city of Philadelphia. They put out a light,” she said.