Man found guilty of lethal shooting at 13-year-old sentenced to life in prison – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth
A jury on Tuesday sentenced Datrail Clayton to life in prison for the murder of 13-year-old Malik Tyler.
Clayton was found guilty Friday and showed no emotion when his fate was read in a Dallas County courtroom.
Clayton was also sentenced to pay a $ 10,000 fine.
The 13-year-old went home with friends after buying snacks at their corner store when they were caught in the middle of a gunfight between a rolling car and Clayton getting out of a parked car to shoot back while the kids and others ran. for coverage.
A shot hit Malik in the upper back.
He stumbled upon his Pleasant Grove apartment complex, where a security guard was trying to save his life.
Clayton’s emotional and controversial lawsuit began last week and ended Friday with closing arguments from both sides.
The suspect chose not to testify in his defense.
Defense attorney Paul Johnson’s formidable fight pushed back on forensics, which could only conclude that the bullet that killed Malik is ‘consistent’ with bullets used in Clayton’s gun.
Johnson grilled those called to testify, including Malik’s friends who witnessed their friend’s death, and a man who admitted that his friend started shooting from inside the car they were driving.
Johnson argued whether there was another shooter from the rolling car who may have caused Malik’s death.
Simple physics, prosecutors said, prove it was Clayton’s bullet fired at the fleeing car, and children running away, hitting Malik in the upper back.
Johnson told jurors that it was not Clayton’s intention to kill Malik, but rather had the right to defend himself against the random attack.
Prosecutors stressed that it was actually Clayton’s intention to kill when he chose to get out of the car he was sitting in, even though it was never hit, and fired six shots.
“They’re shooting at the people in front of the store,” prosecutor Jason Fine said during his closing argument. “People in front of the store, also reasonably cautious people, who were actually in a worse situation because they were not sitting in a car, they all spread out and go and seek cover because they are shot at. What do [Clayton] do?” He gets out of the safety of a vehicle and he starts running towards the threat. It is not self-defense. It is retaliation. “
Fine and Prosecutor Tommy Adams told jurors that the suspect who started the shooting will also have his day in court. But today it was Clayton’s turn to face the consequences of his actions.
In his closing statement, Johnson referred to the decision to get out and start firing and said, “Was what [Clayton] did the smartest thing a person could do? No. I’m not here to stand in front of you and say that was it. But to find out that he is guilty of a crime, you have to find out that it was completely unreasonable, and I submit to you that when someone reads a weapon in your direction, the instinct is to defend yourself.
Johnson asked the jury to find Clayton innocent or at most guilty of manslaughter.
“It’s a tragedy. Do not associate tragedy by throwing away another young man’s life,” Johnson said in his closing statement.
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