A Brockton man who beat local pastor with a hammer and left him for dead was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison on Thursday, said Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz.
Carlos Ramon Velazquez, 28, was found guilty in Brockton Superior Court of killing 74-year-old Lee Harmon on Aug. 20, 2013, prosecutors said. He will serve the sentence at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution-Cedar Junction in Walpole.
Prosecutors said Harmon was known as a “good-deed doer” in the community.
Harmon had been riding his bicycle with his hammer on the way to help his daughter install shower curtains at her home when Velazquez attacked him and used the tool to beat him in the head and body until it broke.
The pastor was found laying motionless and bleeding in a parking lot on Clinton Street. The bike he often rode around the city was with him.
Harmon was pronounced dead before arriving at the hospital, prosecutors said. Blunt force injury to the head was determined to be the cause of death.
A detailed sketch and anonymous tips helped lead to Velazquez’s arrest three weeks later.
Mina Corpuz can be reached at mina.corpuz@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @mlcorpuz.