A Chicago man appeared in a Cook County, Illinois, courtroom Monday and was given 100 years in prison for his role in the slaying of 14-year-old Endia Martin. Donnell Flora, 27, provided a gun to his niece, also 14, for protection while settling a Facebook feud over a boy, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Endia’s sisters sobbed in the courtroom of Cook County Circuit Court Judge Thaddeus Wilson as they explained how the loss has impacted their family. They said Endia aspired to become a registered nurse and, like most teens, enjoyed music and dancing.
After hearing the sisters’ emotional testimony, Judge Wilson had stern words for Flora, saying, “there are no excuses or rationalization for giving a child a gun to take to ridiculous fight about a boy.”
Flora was found guilty of several charges, including first-degree murder, in the killing that occurred on April 28, 2014. The Associated Press reports that prosecutors said Flora gave the gun to his niece and accompanied her to the murder scene.
The Chicago Tribune reports:
Moments later, Endia’s family applauded when the judge sentenced Donnell Flora to 100 years in prison for giving his 14-year-old niece the revolver she allegedly used to kill Endia and wound Endia’s best friend in a 2014 dispute over a boy.
The sentence for Flora, who was left paralyzed from the waist down in a 2010 shooting, stands in sharp contrast to what faces the shooting suspect at trial in May. Even if convicted of murder charges in juvenile court, the girl, now 16, could be paroled by 19, prosecutors have said. The Tribune is not naming the teen since she has not been charged as an adult.
The involvement of teenage girls in the fatal shooting in the South Side’s Back of the Yard neighborhood made the killing among the most shocking in Chicago in recent years.
Flora expressed remorse for his role in Endia’s murder, telling the judge that he wished he could trade places with her, reports the Tribune.
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Chicago Man Gets 100 Years For Role In Endia Martin’s Death was originally published on newsone.com
