Tonight, 19 year-old Akeem Thurton, the man convicted of the attempted murder of attorney Rodwell Williams in the first trial without jury, is serving the first night of a 15 year sentence handed down by Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin.
In court today, Thurton was given a last chance to speak. He said quote, "My Lord, I don't agree with this. You chanced me." End quote.
He finished his address and Chief Justice Benjamin then outlined the method he used to decide on the appropriate sentence.
According to Chief Justice Benjamin a social worker did an in-depth assessment of Thurton's background, and there were several mitigating factors pointing to a lighter sentence.
Firstly, Thurton had no previous convictions for any kind of offenses before the court.
Secondly, he is a family man and a very young one; Chief Justice Benjamin said that the court considered this factor seriously.
And finally, the social worker's report determined that Thurton is an accomplished football player and a fisherman by trade.
According to the numerous persons that the social worker interviewed, which included 2 of his football coaches, Thurton's skill on the football field are impressive. This, coupled with the fact that he is a fisherman by trade, led Chief Justice Benjamin to believe that Thurton is not an idle person.
But there were also aggravating factors against Thurton which warranted a stiffer sentence.
According to Chief Justice Benjamin the first of those was that the offense was committed with a firearm, and that the punishment must fit the crime to send a message to other persons in the society that crime is not tolerated.
According to Chief Justice Benjamin, the evidence presented in the case suggested that Thurton and Ricky Valencia waited to ambush Williams for about an hour and a half.
He said quote, "We never knew why Rodwell Williams was shot, but the nature of the attack suggests that this may have been murder for hire, in which there was some payment or inducement for it, or it may have been done for some other reason not known to us." End quote
The final aggravating factor that Chief Justice Benjamin took into consideration of the sentence was the impact of the attack on Rodwell Williams' family.
Williams told the social worker that although he has made a full recovery, he is now quote, "an eggshell case". According to Williams although he is fine now, there is the chance that he can develop complications later because of possible last effects due to internal injuries from the bullet.
After considering the mitigating and aggravating factors, Chief Justice Benjamin sentenced Thurton to 15 years imprisonment which commenced today.
It important to note Thurton appeared in this trial without any legal representation, and this was a severe handicap when he was trying to defend himself.
Members of the public have questioned why he was tried without an attorney and that's exactly one of the questions we asked his mother when we spoke to her outside of court. We also asked her about her opinions about how the case unfolded.
Her family believes that the was not fair because he had no jury judge him properly, and no attorney to help him
Here's what she told us:
Reporter
"Your son Akeem Thurton was given 15 years. Do you believe, even though he maintains his innocence, the 15 years is a good term for you?"
Loraine Thurton, Mother
"No, it is not a good term, but I was expecting that because the type of person that got shot; I already know that they would have wanted to give him more than that, but just because they know his social status. He's a good boy, a fisherman, and they know that my boy didn't shoot Rodwell Williams. They know that; my boy told them the truth from his heart. But I left everything in God's hands; he has the answers for all the questions."
Reporter
"You have the right to appeal. Will you be doing that?"
Loraine Thurton, Mother
"Yes I will because I need to help my son because I know in my heart that he didn't do that."
Reporter
"Have you been able to get someone to represent your son as yet?"
Loraine Thurton, Mother
"I spoke to 2 lawyers already. They told me to bring the transcript as soon as I get it, and they will look on what grounds they can appeal it."
Daniel Ortiz
"Ma'am we have seen the entire trial take place without an attorney. We got the impression no one wanted to represent your son because of the attorney he is against. Would you speak to us on why is it that you had difficulties finding an attorney?"
Loraine Thurton, Mother
"Firstly, I don't have a job. I have 6 kids, and I have to fight every day to try to put food on the table for them. I don't have a job, and so I couldn't come up with any monies."
"We are poor and so they don't look at us that are poor. But If I had money they would look at me."
As noted in the interview, Chief Justice Benjamin has given Thurton leave to appeal his conviction. He said that this was allowed because Thurton has maintained his innocence throughout the trial.
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