76-year old John Spooner has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 13-year old Darius Simmons.

Spooner shot Simmons in cold blood – in front of his mother – while the young man was taking out the trash. Spooner believed Simmons had stolen guns from his home.

It took a jury less than two hours to find him guilty of 1st-degree intentional homicide.

From the Huffington Post:

Spooner, who has lung cancer and other physical ailments, will spend the rest of his life in prison.

While in court for his sentencing, Spooner spoke in a frail voice that was sometimes difficult to hear and reiterated that he felt he had little choice but to take the law into his own hands.

“They had to rob the house,” he said. “Why’d they do that to me? … They pushed me over the edge, I guess. I don’t know. As far as being sorry, I don’t know if I did right or wrong.”

Judge Jeffrey Wagner replied sternly: “I can tell you, you did wrong. You took the life of a child.”

Read more at the Huffington Post

 

We’re glad that justice was served in this case.

As always, our thoughts and prayers are with Darius; loved ones.