Lakeith Smith was just 15 years old when the alleged crimes of theft, murder and the break-ins of two residences in Millbrook, Alabama had taken place with four other young men back in February 2015. After being tried as an adult along with The Alabama Accomplice Law being applied, he now has been sentenced to 65 years in prison after a 25 year plea deal was supposedly rejected.
Judge Sibley Reynolds gave Smith a total of 3 sentences 30 years for murder, 15 years for burglary and 10 year apiece for theft while 3 of the defendants Jhavarshe Jackson, LaAnthony Washington and Jadarien Hardy have taken plea bargains and are awaiting sentencing.
A’Donte Washington was killed when he allegedly pointed a 38 caliber gun at an officer who responded by firing at least four shots into Washington, killing him.
The officer involved in the shooting was cleared of any wrongdoing but under the Alabama accomplice law, the four surviving young men were charged with A’Donte’s death because under this particular law, a person is legally responsible for the behavior of another person who commits a crime and one is an accomplice.
Lakeith Smith alone was sentenced to 65 years with the possibility of parole after 25 years and sources say that he was seen smiling while being led out of the courtroom. The question is that was Smith smiling out of pride or to mask the fear of being done in by a system that has his kind being herded in like cattle 50 times more than any other being?
A teen at 15 years old does not even have the capacity to be responsible for his own behavior and actions let alone someone else’s. The protest is not about enabling any criminal activity in any shape or form, however the laws of the land should be fair to every citizen and proper due process is accessible rather rich or POOR instead we live in society that is infamous for creating more racist laws for colored flaws.
Miseducation, oppression, mental health, broken families and overworked families are all part of a genocidal cycle that has poor people of color filling up graveyards and institutions on a wholesale level.
To be tried as an adult not only is society saying that a child is capable of making decisions but that the child is an adult all in one. So would child endangerment play a part when it comes to other underage accomplices? With laws that are able to hold a child accountable for crimes but acquit the adult who actually did the actions shows us the ass backwards world that we live in.