The two D.C. teens had a series of run-ins over months. But after a September argument on a Southeast street, the younger of the two, only 15 years old, left. When he returned a half-hour later, he brought a gun.
The 15-year-old, who initially had been charged with first-degree murder in Jackson’s death, pleaded guilty Wednesday in D.C. Superior Court to involuntary manslaughter and a firearms charge.
The Washington Post generally does not identify suspects charged in juvenile court. Court officials allowed The Post to attend the hearing — such proceedings usually are closed to the public — on the condition that the charged teen not be named.
A surveillance video captured images of the younger teen in the area at the time of the Sept. 1 shooting. After he was arrested, 12 days later, authorities said the youth admitted to police that he fired the weapon “two to four times.”
Prosecutors did not say why the two youths had been feuding, but at an earlier hearing a detective testified they were members of rival neighborhood gangs. A witness had told police that Jackson and some other teens had jumped the 15-year-old in April, according to testimony.
In court Wednesday, a prosecutor said that just before 2 p.m. on the day of the shooting, the teens got into an argument in the 1900 block of 16th St. SE. Jackson and his friends stayed in the area, while the 15-year-old left. He returned about a half-hour later, pulled out a handgun and began firing.
As prosecutor Kimberly Berry outlined the details of the shooting for Judge Jennifer Anderson, Anderson asked the teen if the prosecutor’s narrative was accurate.
“Yes ma’am,” the teen said, standing next to his public defender and in front of his parents and grandmother.
Prosecutors did not disclose if the teen revealed where he obtained the gun.
Anderson ordered a mental health evaluation to be performed on the youth before determining a date for sentencing. The youth, who is in custody of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, could face a maximum of six years of detainment or supervision with the agency until he turns 21.
Jackson’s family members, who were permitted by the judge to attend the hearing, said they were disappointed that the maximum the teen could face was six years.
“It’s a slap on the wrist,” said Jackson’s older sister, Martina Brooks. “He’s facing the same amount of time for killing someone as if he was arrested for shoplifting. This boy left and then came back with a gun and shot my brother. That’s premeditation. This is not fair.”
Jackson’s family said they wanted the youth to be charged as an adult and potentially face decades in prison. But prosecutors in the Office of the Attorney General choose to keep the case in juvenile court.
“The system let us down,” said Jackson’s aunt, Sheryl Arrington. “He could be back out on the streets in a year, despite what the judge orders, because he is a juvenile.”
In an email, Robert Marus, a spokesman for the Office of the Attorney General, declined to comment on the case, but said it was “very rare” for his office to seek to have 15-year-olds tried as adults. The office considers the seriousness of the crime, a youth’s prior offenses and whether the teen has potential for rehabilitation within the juvenile system.
