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NORRISTOWN — A Norristown man faces more than a decade in prison on charges of attempted murder and arson in connection with the shooting of his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend and setting the boyfriend’s vehicle on fire during an incident in Upper Merion.

Julius Irwin Mayo, 37, of the 600 block of West Lafayette Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 13 to 28 years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded no contest to a charge of attempted murder in connection with the Sept. 13, 2020, incident during which the victim suffered a single gunshot wound to the abdomen that resulted in serious internal injuries.

A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is an admission that prosecutors have sufficient evidence to prove the charge at trial.

While he entered a no contest plea to attempted murder, Mayo, who was represented by defense lawyer Douglas Dolfman, pleaded guilty to other charges, including arson, possessing an instrument of crime, discharging a firearm into an occupied structure and firearms not to be carried without a license.

Judge Thomas M. DelRicci imposed the sentence.

Assistant District Attorney Allison Ruth sought a lengthy prison term against Mayo, who she previously argued was a danger to the community.

An investigation began about 9:03 p.m. Sept. 13, when Upper Merion police responded to a residence in the 700 block of Hidden Valley Road for a report of criminal mischief involving a brick thrown through a front window of the residence.

As officers spoke with a woman who resided in the home and her boyfriend they discovered smoke coming from the passenger compartment of the boyfriend’s Jeep vehicle that was parked in the driveway, according to court papers.

The Upper Merion Fire Department responded and extinguished a smoldering fire inside the vehicle and discovered a charred newspaper on the front passenger seat, according to the criminal complaint filed by Upper Merion detectives Andrew Rathfon and Brendan Dougherty.  Officers also found a utility lighter in the grassy area next to the residence.

The female victim told police she recently “had been experiencing harassing and suspicious conduct,” including text messages from Mayo, her ex-boyfriend, according to court papers.

After police took the initial report and left the scene, they responded to the residence a second time at 11:43 p.m. for a reported shooting. Arriving officers found the woman’s boyfriend had suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen as he was helping three other men place temporary plywood on the window that had been damaged by the brick earlier in the evening.

While standing in front of the bay window, the witnesses heard a loud bang and saw the victim fall to the floor. Police found one shell casing on the front lawn of the residence, about 15 feet from the bay window, detectives said.

The victim was transported to an area trauma center where he was treated for a single gunshot wound to the abdomen that resulted in serious internal injuries. In court, Ruth said the bullet lacerated the victim’s liver and he lost a kidney and he was in a coma for seven days.

When detectives interviewed Mayo the following day he allegedly admitted to firing one 9mm round from a pistol he owned into the front of the residence and to using lighter fluid and a towel to set fire inside the victim’s vehicle, according to the criminal complaint.

Mayo allegedly told detectives he discarded the pistol’s magazine in a storm water drain along Johnson Highway and hid the pistol in the basement of a friend’s home. Detectives subsequently recovered the weapon, a Sarsilmaz SAR USA 9mm semiautomatic pistol, court documents indicate.

Mayo also confessed to throwing a brick through the front window of the residence, according to the arrest affidavit.

Other charges of stalking, simple assault, recklessly endangering other persons and criminal mischief at slated to be dismissed against Mayo at time of sentencing.

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