Donnell Brunson said he was sorry Tuesday for killing his girlfriend Danielle Barbuti, but said she had a dark side only he saw.

At his sentencing hearing, Brunson told Lackawanna County Judge Michael Barrasse he couldn’t listen to love songs without thinking of Barbuti. He also said Barbuti had devil masks and statutes around the house — items that were never found.

A jury found Brunson, of Taylor, guilty of first-degree murder in September, triggering a mandatory life sentence in compliance with state guidelines. The jury also found him guilty of risking catastrophe, for which he received 18 to 24 months behind bars, following his life sentence.

The people who loved Barbuti described at Tuesday’s hearing her creative and supportive personality and expressed anger toward her killer.

‘Shattered two families’

Leandra Barbuti described her sister as “a loving, irreplaceable part of our family.”

She said she was particularly sad because her sister was killed by someone she believed loved her. She recalled being happy for her sister, believing she had found someone who fully supported her. She said she couldn’t imagine the “pain, terror and confusion” her sister felt as Brunson beat her to death.

The family was especially grieving during the holiday season, Leandra Barbuti said. Her sister will never celebrate another Christmas or see her nieces and nephews grow up.

“She loved the cookie baking, the meatball rolling, singing, all of it,” she said.

She said Brunson also deprived his children of a father.

“You shattered two families,” she said.

Melissa Barbuti, Danielle Barbuti’s sister-in-law, asked why Brunson hadn’t just walked away from what he claimed was a bad situation.

“You expect us to believe believe you were afraid for your life?” she said, noting that Brunson had watched television and smoked a cigarette after killing Barbuti.

Michelle LaBar, who lived in an apartment below Danielle Barbuti, said Brunson not only killed her friend. He also endangered the lives of everyone in the building and on the block when he attempted to cause an explosion by leaving a natural gas stove running.

“Danielle was someone I knew, trusted and loved,” she said.

LaBar said it was difficult to speak about her friend’s death and testify at trial.

“I had to relive these events,” she said. “I did it because I think it was important.”

Barrasse said he didn’t believe Barbuti was a Satan worshipper, found nothing in the court record to support it and found Brunson’s claims “hollow and insincere.”

Held accountable

Brunson went to bed Nov. 29, 2023, believing Barbuti, 49, had cheated on him.

He woke up in a rage the next morning and repeatedly punched her in the head. He also hit her with a ceramic ashtray and covered her face with his hands and with a pillow.

Barbuti suffered severe head trauma. Police found her dead later that day.

Brunson told police he took sleeping pills, slashed his wrist and tried to blow up the second-floor apartment at 1019 Luke Ave., Scranton.

He woke up surprised to be alive and told police his death was “how it was supposed to end.” Brunson said he couldn’t stand to look at Barbuti’s body and covered it with a sheet before leaving the apartment.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Sara Varela said the hearing provided a chance for Danielle Barbuti’s friends and family to express their grief and outline Barbuti’s personality. This was especially important because much of Brunson’s defense at trial was based on assassinating Barbuti’s character, she said.

“It was an absolute privilege to pursue justice on behalf of Danielle Barbuti, who was savagely murdered by a man that she loved, trusted and had invited into her home,” Varela said. “While we never take joy in days like today, when an innocent victim’s life was taken, the reality is that Donnell Brunson was appropriately held accountable and sentenced for this brutal act of intimate partner violence.”