In photos and a home video, Alajawan Brown grew up in front of Superior Court Judge Richard Eadie, who moments later sentenced his killer to 50 years in prison.
Nearly two years ago, on April 29, 2010, 12-year-old Alajawan was shot in the back; he died in the parking lot of the 7-11 store on Martin Luther King Jr. Way.
Curtis John Walker, convicted last month in Eadie’s courtroom of first-degree murder with a firearms enhancement after a three-week trial, fled in a car driven by a friend. He was arrested weeks later, after sheriff’s detectives and prosecutors had built their case.
Walker, through one of his attorneys, Ann Mahony, immediately filed an appeal of his conviction.
Walker, 36, of Kent also was convicted of possessing a firearm. He has a long criminal history which precluded him from carrying a gun.
Alajawan’s mother, Ayanna Brown, and Walker’s aunt, Erma Douglas, and his sister, Nakia Ray, Wednesday addressed Eadie before sentencing. They were not allowed to speak to Walker directly, who showed little emotion as the families spoke.
Brown read from a letter she had written to Walker in January.
She told Walker that she forgave, but she did so, she said, “for my healing.”
She compared Walker to the apostle Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus with a kiss.
“I learned that you were worse that Judas Iscariot,” said Brown. “He had a conscious.” She told Walker he didn’t.
Ayanna Brown spent the rest of the sentencing with husband Louis’s arm around her.
Walker seemed to blink just a little when his sister Nakia spoke. Ray said the family did not condone violence. Killing one another to resolve a dispute “will never be the answer,” she said.
Walker today is not the person she knew, she said. She asked that Eadie “know that my brother is a good man.” She brought family photos, too.
Earlier, Eadie had rebuffed Walker’s efforts to delay sentencing so that he could undergo a psychiatric evaluation, saying there was no basis for such an evaluation.
Eadie sentenced Walker to the maximum term possible, 608 months. Telling Walker that he was going to prison for a long time, Eadie said there was something he could do.
Because of his gang affiliation and his status as an OG, an original gangster, Walker would receive some respect from other prisoners, who would look to him for leadership, Eadie said.
“Tell them it wasn’t worth it,” Eadie said. Tell them to put their guns down, he said.
Walker seemed to nod yes.