An outraged Florida mother made an emotional outcry in court after her son’s killer was given the lowest possible sentence by a judge.
The gunman, 23-year-old Cemari Daniels, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Jaleen Snead in 2021.
“Ain’t no way!” Deidre Wade, Snead’s mother, yelled in court after the sentence was read, according to The Palm Beach Post. “Ain’t no f—king way!”
Daniels fatally shot Snead in the back seat of a car on Dec. 8, 2021. Both were armed at the time, but accounts of what led up to the shooting varied.
During his trial, prosecutors argued that Daniels tried to rob Snead of his gun and shot him when the teen resisted. Daniels’ attorneys claimed that their client acted in self-defense. They said that Snead had been talking about a drive-by shooting, and when Daniels asked Snead to leave the car, Snead physically resisted and fired first.
A jury convicted Daniels of manslaughter in April. He was initially charged with murder.
For his manslaughter conviction, he faced a maximum of 30 years, plus another 15 for wounding another teenager in the shooting. Had he been convicted of murder, he could have been sentenced to life in prison.
Prosecutors asked for the max. Daniels’ defense attorneys requested a five-year sentence followed by 10 years of probation, arguing that the teens’ access to deadly weapons made the situation between them much more volatile.
During his sentencing on June 16, Daniels read a letter aloud to the judge, stating that he regrets what happened.
“I wish every day that I could change the outcome,” the letter said. “This experience has been life-changing and has taught me hard lessons I wouldn’t wish on anyone.”
Ultimately, the judge turned down both the prosecutors’ and defense attorneys’ sentencing requests and landed on a 12-year sentence for Daniels.
Snead’s mother, who was present for the sentencing hearing, raged at Daniels’ sentence.
“My 17-year-old son lost his life, and this what y’all do?” she yelled from the back of the courtroom, adding that the justice system treated her son like “a piece of trash” and gave his 23-year-old killer a “pat on the f—king back.”
“No, it’s not enough. This coming from a mother that lost two sons in the same year and her momma. I lost both of my kids six months apart! How the f—k you think I feel, bro?!” the mother shouted. “Y’all supposed to give them the max! They did the time, they did the crime, give them the time!”
During the hearing, the judge said, “The one thing we all agree on is that this is a terrible tragedy.”
Daniels’ grandmother, also present for the sentencing hearing, told reporters things “could have been worse.”
“It could have been the other way around,” she said. “It could have been Cemari instead of that guy.”
