CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Charleston teenager charged with killing a tobacco shop clerk in January is getting sentenced to life behind bars.
Bre’Jaun Williams-Hampton, 14, pleaded guilty in September to first-degree felony murder after he, along with another 14-year-old, went into Tobacco and Pipe Shop on 7th Avenue in Charleston on January 30, robbing the store before fatally shooting the 19-year-old shop attendant Caden Martin.
Williams-Hampton went before Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers Wednesday afternoon for his sentencing.
“How can I take a life, I can’t answer because I ask myself every day and night the same thing,” Williams-Hampton read. “What I did was wrong and I have to serve time as a punishment, all I can say is I’m sorry and ask for your forgiveness.”
Much like all of Caden Martin’s friends and family who were present for Wednesday’s emotional sentencing, Judge Akers did not seem to be buying his apology. She said it was the first real attempt at an apology that he’s given the court.
“That’s the first time I hear you speak about being sorry, and that’s the first time I’ve heard you give an explanation, even though it wasn’t one, really, as to why you did what you did,” Akers said.
Since Williams-Hampton is still a juvenile, Akers said that he will be eligible for parole after serving 15 years.
According to video surveillance footage taken at the store on Jan. 30, two suspects walked into Tobacco and Pipe wearing masks.
The video shows them robbing the store, and then one of the suspects, determined to be Williams-Hampton, raising a gun and firing two shots in Martins’ direction. It showed the second shot was the one that ultimately killed Martin.
State prosecutors say Martin did everything he was asked to do in the course of the armed robbery leading up to his death, opening up the register, keeping his hands up, and complying.
Jessica Boyce, Caden’s mother, stood up in court Wednesday to give a victim impact statement. She said it was just a senseless killing.
“He gave them everything they demanded and still, they shot and killed my son over vapes and ice cream that they went and ate after murdering my son,” Boyce said.
At the end of Boyce’s statement, she gave a specific remark directly to Williams-Hampton.
“I hope no other family endures the unbearable loss that we now live with everyday because of your actions, I don’t want you to die, I want you to suffer everyday in prison,” Boyce said holding back tears. “I will be at every sentencing, my entire family will be at every parole hearing.”
Both of Caden’s grandmothers spoke to the media following Wednesday’s sentencing.
One of Caden’s grandmothers, Sandi Cedeno said no amount of justice can ever bring them closure.
“Our hearts are torn apart, our family is torn apart, all we have is a graveyard, shirts, a necklace with his ashes,” she said.
Cadens’ grandmothers told the media that Caden had big dreams. They said he dreamed of owning his own business one day as well as having a career in finance.
His other grandma, Jill Martin said he was also an extremely giving young man.
“I had young children come up to me at the vigil, this one child in particular, he was about 11, and he said, I was in here the other day and my stuff came to $7 dollars, he said, I only had $5, and he said, Caden reached in his pocket and paid for my stuff,” Jill Martin said.
She said he would have even paid for the two perpetrators’ things that fateful day had they asked.
Cedeno said they can’t feel a single bit of remorse for Williams-Hampton due to the pain he inflicted on their family.
“I hope his mother worries about him every single day, I hope she worries if he walks out of that jail cell that he’s going to get it, I hope she worries like that, because we worry everyday how we are going to make it through to another one,” Cedeno said.
Jill Martin reiterated what was already said– there’s just no amount of justice.
“There will never be closure, there will never be justice, I mean, we’re here today and we want justice for Caden, but there’s no sentence on this earth that would ever bring justice,”
The second teenager involved is Barack Williams, 14, who is also being tried as an adult. He is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery as well.
The two teens were also involved in several other violent crimes which had taken place around the same time as the fatal incident at the tobacco shop. Martins’ family says some of those crimes were unreported.