CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago man convicted in the 2009 videotaped beating death of a high school honors student was sentenced to 32 years in prison on Tuesday, the fourth of five defendants in the case to receive lengthy terms behind bars.
Eugene Riley, 20, could have walked away from the
2009 attack on 16-year-old Derrion Albert, but instead, he jumped out of his
car, grabbed a wooden board and slammed it into the high school sophomore's
head while he was lying prone on the ground, Cook County Assistant State's
Attorney James Papa said.
"He set in motion the whole chain that
ultimately led to Derrion Albert's murder," Papa said.
In a cellphone video that circulated worldwide
after it was posted online, Derrion's attackers are seen punching and kicking
him, slamming him over the head with large boards and finally, stomping on his
head. The attack occurred on a street a few blocks from Derrion's school on the
city's South Side.
As with every other sentencing over the past
several months, the teen's relatives read statements to Judge Nicholas Ford,
trying to convey what the defendants took from them when they descended on
Derrion that afternoon and killed him.
"We will never be able to see what Derrion
would have become," said Mary Albert, an aunt.
Riley apologized in court Tuesday, reading from a
piece of yellow legal paper.
"I asked the Lord to forgive me for the
actions that I took," he said, adding that he still wants to make
something of his life and hopes to steer others away from the kinds of
decisions he made.
But Derrion's family, all of whom sat impassively
during Riley's statement, suggested that Riley was only saying what he thought
he had to say to a judge who held his fate in his hands.
"I could accept a sincere apology but it
didn't seem sincere," Derrion's grandfather, Norman Golliday, said.
One of the five defendants pleaded guilty to
first-degree murder in the case, and juries had little trouble convicting the
other four of the same charge after repeatedly being shown the video footage.
For each of the three others charged as adults, Ford imposed prison sentences
of at least a quarter-century. The juvenile was ordered confined to a detention
center until he is 21 years old — with a possibility that he could serve 30
years in prison as an adult if he breaks any rules during his detention center
stint.
Only one of the five, Lapolean Colbert, still
awaits sentencing. His hearing is scheduled for Aug. 29.
Derrion's mother addressed the court and said her
son should be remembered for more than the attack that killed him. She said she
is still grieving, but she's grateful for the city's efforts to beef up
security at schools and bus stops after the attack.
"It shouldn't have taken my son to lose his
life," Anjanette Albert told reporters after the hearing.
Albert, who has declined to comment after each of
the previous sentencing hearings, explained she decided to speak out because
she did not want her son to be remembered only for the last moments of his
life.
"I'd rather people hear his name and see
something positive than to only know him from that tape," she said.
"It's important to me for people to know that he was somebody, that he was
loved."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
(AP
Photo/Chicago Police Department, File)
