I’ll try not to get too mad, but don’t hold me to it.
Just another senseless robbery and murder so why should I get so upset about it. A man delivering pizza to an apartment is shot and killed by a 19 year old teen. The teen is convicted of murder and related crimes and is sentenced to 44 years in prison. Two families lives are destroyed.
My anger comes from the details of this particular case. Unfortunately cases like this are all too common today. The victim is a 50 year old man who worked three jobs and lived with his mother, whom he helped support. The teen who committed the crimes was a member of the YNIC, a Hampton Roads gang affiliated with the Crips. One man who worked hard for himself and his family and one man who wasted his life being a gang member. I can never understand the violence and stupidity of a crime like this. The pizza delivery man could not have had much money and there was absolutely no justification for the teen to shoot him.
A large portion on my anger is reserved for the defense attorney in the case. I know that it is the job of a defense attorney to defend his client, but to make up lies and make it sound like it was self-defense is unforgivable. The defense attorney argued that the teen had not planned the shooting and robbery. I guess the teen was just hanging around with his gun when the pizza delivery man appeared and it was just a spur of the moment decision. What difference does it make whether he planned the robbery or not? The results are the same. The attorney then made the absurd claim that his client thought the pizza delivery man was reaching for a gun when he shot him. So now he is trying to make a case for self-defense for himself? When someone pulls a gun on you, it is no longer self-defense if the victim pulls a gun on you. It is now self-defense on the part of the victim. The pizza delivery man was not armed and I seriously doubt if pizza delivery persons carry weapons for self-defense anyway.
Another measure of my anger is reserved for some of the family members of the teen who was convicted of the murder and robbery. About 15 to 20 family member and friends showed up at the trial in support of the teen. Before sentencing the teen read an apology and asked for forgiveness. He talked of his two children, whom he said he loved. Whether his remorse was sincere or not it does not bring the victim back or help his family much. If the teen really loves his two children, then why was he a member of a gang and why did he commit these crimes? A young woman in the group of supporters of the teen was arrested by deputies and charged with disorderly conduct after she refused to leave and then screamed obscenities in the hall. What was she screaming obscenities for? Was she upset because justice was served and the teen was going to jail for 44 years? Did she think he didn’t deserve the punishment that was handed down for this heinous crime?
I guess I will never understand what leads people to do crimes like this. I have heard all the reasons given by the experts but I just don’t understand. I especially don’t understand why so many robberies end with the victim being murdered for no reason at all. What kind of life leads someone to murder someone for no reason at all? I just don’t understand.
