Allen Drake said he had one “last ray of hope” when he went to the Hamilton Street address where he was told his son, Daniel, had been shot to death.

“The scene was blocked off, and police had put up a tarp so you couldn’t see the body,” Mr. Drake tearfully told Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Ruth Ann Franks. “So my last ray of hope was that it wasn’t him behind that tarp, you know? But the tarp fell down … and I saw my son laying on his back and I knew it was him.”

On Tuesday, Marcus Harris, 24, of the 2700 block of Tremainsville Road was sentenced by Judge Franks to life in prison with parole eligibility after he serves at least 23 years in prison.

Harris had entered Alford pleas — not admitting guilt — Jan. 19 to aggravated murder and a firearm specification for the Sept. 22 shooting death of Daniel Drake, 20.

Prosecutors said Harris and Mr. Drake were friends who worked on cars together, but that Harris became angry with Mr. Drake because he suspected he’d been stealing car parts and stereo equipment.

He made arrangements to meet Mr. Drake in the 900 block of Hamilton Street where he confronted him about the alleged thefts. At one point, Mr. Drake leaned over a car and was shot in the back of the head.

The victim’s father said his son graduated from Scott High School and had enrolled at Owens Community College to study auto mechanics so he could run his own repair shop. He told the court he was left with “a whole lot of whys in my head.”

“My son turned his back to him and walked away,” Mr. Drake said. “Daniel was not a threat to him, so why did he shoot him?”

Given the opportunity to address the court, Harris said simply, “I deeply regret my actions, and I’m here to take responsibility for them.”

His attorney, Brad Hubbell, and Charles McDonald, an assistant county prosecutor, both asked the court to impose the 23-to-life sentence laid out in a plea agreement with Harris. Judge Franks said she was doing so only with the agreement of Mr. Drake’s family.

“What you did was you got mad,” Judge Franks told Harris. “You became the judge, the jury, and the executioner. You made a presumption over something tangible.”

Harris, whose only prior conviction was a misdemeanor, claimed the two men “got into it” and he “snapped,” but the judge said that’s not what the evidence showed.

“What you did ... establishes beyond all doubt prior calculation and design and purpose,” Judge Franks said.

Harris did not stop or call for an ambulance after he shot Mr. Drake in the head, she said, but instead fired two more shots as he lay on the ground.

Contact Jennifer Feehan at: jfeehan@theblade.com or 419-213-2134.

First Published February 8, 2017, 5:00 a.m.