Remember when I shared the heartbreaking story of college freshman, Bobby Tillman and others who were senselessly killed at the hands of another? Well two years later, justice has finally been served, at least for Mr. Tillman.
As reported on AJC.com:
The penalty phase begins Thursday in the death penalty trial of Tracen Franklin, a 20-year-old man convicted of murdering Bobby Tillman two years ago — a crime that drew national attention because of its randomness and viciousness.
So far, two men have been convicted of murdering Tillman — Franklin and Emanuel Boykins, who pleaded guilty last spring to throwing the first punch to avoid a death penalty trial.
Two other suspects, Quantez Devonta Mallory and Horace Damon Coleman, have not yet gone to trial for murder. Douglas District Attorney David McDade is not seeking the death penalty against them.
Tillman, a freshman at Perimeter College in 2010, had been invited to a celebration for two former classmates who had made good grades. The party was to have been small. But word of the gathering spread, and the number of teenagers who descended on the house on Independence Drive swelled to 60 or more before parents shut it down.
Franklin’s attorney, Bruce Harvey, acknowledged that Franklin was part of the attack on Tillman. But there was no intent or malice, he said in his closing argument to the jury Wednesday morning.
“We know Tracen Franklin didn’t start it and we know he didn’t finish it. He’s the guy that ran away while the other people continued to stomp Bobby,” Harvey said. “Tracen Franklin did not deliberately kick the life out of Bobby Tillman.”
Although the young men who took Bobby Tillman’s life too soon are paying for this horrific crime, it still breaks my heart that more young black men are either dead or on their way to jail. The saddest part of all is that Tillman’s mother still has to live with the fact that her son who was following on the right path in life was randomly beat down…And for one simple reason according to his attacker:
“He didn’t do nothing,” Franklin said in the video that was played for the jury. “He didn’t have to do nothing. He was just there.”
Pray for our Youth!