12-03-2010, 10:59 AM
Boston Globe
Cedirick Steele’s somber father sat at a witness stand yesterday morning in Suffolk Superior Court and talked about the good times he had shared with his 18-year-old son. He mentioned their trip to Disney World and to local apple orchards and simply getting out of the city together.
“My main purpose in life was to let him experience all the things I never did,’’ said Kenneth Way.
About 30 feet away, Antwan Carter and Daniel Pinckney Jr. sat stoney-faced. The two 22-year-olds from the South End were convicted of first-degree murder on Wednesday in the fatal shooting of Steele three years ago near the Timilty Middle School in Roxbury. Yesterday, Judge Linda Giles issued their mandatory sentences, life in jail without the possibility of parole.
“I just hope people learn from other people’s lives,’’ Way said. “There’s more to Boston than just these streets. I don’t have closure; I have acceptance. It took 18 years of work to make Cedirick the person he was.
Steele’s mother, Natasha Steele, also made a victim impact statement yesterday, saying: “it hurts me to lose Cedirick so bad, and it’s hurt my family so bad. Cedirick was the light of our family. He had a promising future. He was so talented in everything he did.’’
Steele added: “Wherever he went, he shined. He had a smile so big, and I just miss him. I go to the cemetery and I speak to him. It’s not fair. I miss him so much, and he set a path for his brothers to walk in.’’
Prosecutors said Carter and Pinckney were gang members looking to avenge the shooting of an associate by rival gang members. Steele was not in a gang and detested violence and illegal guns, prosecutors said. He was an honor roll student at Bunker Hill Community College and a volunteer who delivered meals to the elderly.
Steele was making such a delivery on March 14, 2007, when he accidentally locked his keys in his car and had to wait for a relative to pick him up. Carter walked up to him and shot him eight times in the chest, prosecutors said.
LaToya Thomas Dickson, Pinckney’s former girlfriend, initially told police that she was not with Carter and Pinckney when they shot Steele, but later told a grand jury that she was. In the second trial last March, she told a jury that she was in a car with them during the shooting, but halfway through her testimony, she recanted. Her reversal led prosecutors to charge her with perjury, and she pleaded guilty to those charges.
In custody and awaiting sentencing on those charges, Thomas Dickson returned to the witness stand last month and told jurors that she was with the two defendants. She said Carter, after shooting Steele, returned to Pinckney’s parked car and nudged her with the gun, wanting her to take it and walk to her mother’s house. But she refused to take the weapon, she testified.
Yesterday’s sentencing drew emotion from both Steele’s family and the family and friends of the defendants. Several young men sitting with the defendant’s supporters repeatedly said, “It ain’t over,’’ as they left the courtroom.
Cedirick Steele’s somber father sat at a witness stand yesterday morning in Suffolk Superior Court and talked about the good times he had shared with his 18-year-old son. He mentioned their trip to Disney World and to local apple orchards and simply getting out of the city together.
“My main purpose in life was to let him experience all the things I never did,’’ said Kenneth Way.
About 30 feet away, Antwan Carter and Daniel Pinckney Jr. sat stoney-faced. The two 22-year-olds from the South End were convicted of first-degree murder on Wednesday in the fatal shooting of Steele three years ago near the Timilty Middle School in Roxbury. Yesterday, Judge Linda Giles issued their mandatory sentences, life in jail without the possibility of parole.
“I just hope people learn from other people’s lives,’’ Way said. “There’s more to Boston than just these streets. I don’t have closure; I have acceptance. It took 18 years of work to make Cedirick the person he was.
Steele’s mother, Natasha Steele, also made a victim impact statement yesterday, saying: “it hurts me to lose Cedirick so bad, and it’s hurt my family so bad. Cedirick was the light of our family. He had a promising future. He was so talented in everything he did.’’
Steele added: “Wherever he went, he shined. He had a smile so big, and I just miss him. I go to the cemetery and I speak to him. It’s not fair. I miss him so much, and he set a path for his brothers to walk in.’’
Prosecutors said Carter and Pinckney were gang members looking to avenge the shooting of an associate by rival gang members. Steele was not in a gang and detested violence and illegal guns, prosecutors said. He was an honor roll student at Bunker Hill Community College and a volunteer who delivered meals to the elderly.
Steele was making such a delivery on March 14, 2007, when he accidentally locked his keys in his car and had to wait for a relative to pick him up. Carter walked up to him and shot him eight times in the chest, prosecutors said.
LaToya Thomas Dickson, Pinckney’s former girlfriend, initially told police that she was not with Carter and Pinckney when they shot Steele, but later told a grand jury that she was. In the second trial last March, she told a jury that she was in a car with them during the shooting, but halfway through her testimony, she recanted. Her reversal led prosecutors to charge her with perjury, and she pleaded guilty to those charges.
In custody and awaiting sentencing on those charges, Thomas Dickson returned to the witness stand last month and told jurors that she was with the two defendants. She said Carter, after shooting Steele, returned to Pinckney’s parked car and nudged her with the gun, wanting her to take it and walk to her mother’s house. But she refused to take the weapon, she testified.
Yesterday’s sentencing drew emotion from both Steele’s family and the family and friends of the defendants. Several young men sitting with the defendant’s supporters repeatedly said, “It ain’t over,’’ as they left the courtroom.