A Dallas County jury has slammed a man who killed an innocent teenager during a gunfight two years ago with a life prison term. Datrail Clayton, 24 Dallas, had asked for a prison term in the range of 15 to 20 years.
Clayton never denied he was in a gunfight on June 4, 2019. A car had opened fire on a convenience store near Bruton and St. Augustine road in Pleasant Grove. Clayton began shooting back. One bullet hit 13-year-old Malik Tyler of Dallas in the back, killing the teen within minutes. Tyler’s mother can be seen on police body camera video pleading for her son to breathe.
On Friday the jury rejected claims by the defense that prosecutors had not proved the bullet that killed Tyler was fired by Clayton’s gun. The jury’s decision on a sentence took less than an hour today.
“We’re just thankful for the verdict that they had last week and then the sentence they had today,” said Tommy Adams, the lead prosecutor on the case.
The shooting happened on the first day of summer vacation. Tyler’s mother was in the convenience store talking to a security guard when the gunfire rang out. “I was talking to the mother of Malik and the next I hear cars going by. And pow, pow, pow,” said Michael Dukes, the security guard who was in the store. “I looked to my left and they was saying ‘He was shot! He was shot!’ And there’s Malik there, and he’s falling. I grabbed him and he’s falling.”
As Dukes testified and listened to the recordings, tears streamed down his face. Dukes had known Tyler for several years from a mentorship program.
It was never disputed that Clayton fired a gun. The dispute was whether he was the person who killed the teen.
“There was never any intent on the defendant’s part to harm anybody besides the individual that he believed was shooting at him,” said defense attorney Paul Johnson. “I just think the punishment was excessive.”
Johnson vows to appeal the verdict and the sentence.
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