Quantcast

Some family members can forgive, some can’t after teen who killed 4 in Kenner police chase set free

Bad Streets

Team Owner
Joined
Oct 12, 2009
Messages
31,904
Reaction score
Reactions
126,725 8,085 1,876
145,022
Alleybux
290,150

Warning: This story may be upsetting to some.

'I'll never forget what it was like to have four coffins at the same time.'​

60a2f86ae641a.image.jpg


Terrence King was 15 when he stole a car, fled from Kenner police and crashed into a family, killing three children and a woman who'd been on their way to church.

Four more were critically injured, setting all on decades-long journeys of unimaginable grief, anger, guilt, recovery and forgiveness.

The road has been more difficult for some members of the James and Jones family. Breion Jones was just 4 when she was paralyzed from the chest down in the crash. Now 27, she still battles bitterness and heartbreak from the deaths of her siblings and the loss of a life free of the physical and medical obstacles she faces every day.


60a2ecb25cb6c.image.jpg



“I’m angry and upset and heart broke,” Jones said. “A part of me feels damaged. He took so much from my family, especially myself.”

But other relatives have found peace, or at least acceptance, in the wake of the Louisiana Supreme Court’s decision last week to correct the effective life sentence King’s attorneys say he was unconstitutionally handed as a juvenile after his 1999 conviction on four counts of manslaughter.

On Monday, Jefferson Parish Judge Frank Brindisi of the 24th Judicial District Court amended King’s original 80-year sentence – four 20-year sentences that were to run consecutively. The state Supreme Court ordered that King’s sentences instead run concurrently, meaning he was released from custody Monday evening.

“Terrence, we forgive you. We forgive you. We forgave you 23 years ago,” Andrea James Manuel, 56, the sister and aunt of the crash victims, told King, now 38, during the hearing Monday morning. “Our prayer for you is that, when you leave this courthouse, you make the choice to live right, to do good and be a man that loves God more than you love yourself.”

Deadly chase

Authorities said King stole a Dodge Neon on Aug. 30, 1998, to visit a girlfriend, but fled when police spotted the car. The Neon was going 56 mph when King ran a red light and slammed into the James' family's Honda Accord at Airline Drive and South Atlanta Street, authorities said.

Dion James, 32; her son, Edwin James, 4; and her niece and nephew, Brittanie Jones 5, and Bobbie Jones, 8, were killed in the crash.

“I’ll never forget what it was like to have four coffins at the same time,”
Manuel told the court on Monday.

Capture.JPG

In addition to Breion Jones the injured included Wilmareen James, then 57, who was Dion James’ mother and the car’s driver; Dion James’ daughter, Diana James, then 6; and Wilmareen James' grandson, Norman James, then 14.

Charged as an adult, King was convicted by a Jefferson Parish jury on July 15, 1999. Judge Clarence McManus sentenced the sobbing teenager to 20 years in prison for each count of manslaughter, but ordered consecutive sentences, meaning King would spend 80 years behind bars.


In December 2019, the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights (LCCR), a nonprofit that provides legal representation for children and adults sentenced as children, filed a motion on King’s behalf to correct what they called an unconstitutionally excessive sentence. Among the arguments was that King’s punishment violated the Eighth Amendment, which makes it illegal for a juvenile to receive a life sentence without parole for any crime other than murder.

“It’s clear Mr. King’s 80-year sentence also qualifies as an effective life sentence,” defense attorney Kristin Wenstrom wrote in one of the motions in the case. “No matter what Mr. King does to demonstrate that he’s rehabilitated, he’ll never have an opportunity for release, and his eventual death in prison is nearly a certainty.”

The Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office essentially agreed, noting that it was not the 20-year sentences but the order to run them consecutively that created a functional life sentence for King. The DA's office suggested concurrent sentences, according to court records.

But when the case came before Brindisi in May 2020, the judge declined. King’s attorneys appealed to the Louisiana Supreme Court, which ordered the sentencing change in a ruling released May 11.


"Today is a hopeful beginning of a new chapter. The Louisiana Supreme Court recognized the injustice of Terrence’s continued incarceration and the district court has finally put an end to its error," LCCR Spokeswoman Renée Slajda said.

Grief and pain

Wilmareen James, now 80, still cannot talk about the crash, according to her daughter, Orlando James, 58. She hasn't driven since the day of the accident, and for years, blamed herself, wondering why she didn’t take a different route to church.


Orlando James’ son, Norman James, now 38, was injured in the wreck and has suffered mental illness ever since, she said. Orlando James said she cried for two years and battled clinical depression for another 10 before learning to live with her grief. She has come to accept King’s release.

“He was a kid that did the wrong thing, the wrong place, the wrong time, the wrong judgement,” she said.

Her brother-in-law, Henry “J.J.” Jones, has struggled more with King’s release. The father of Brittanie, Bobbie and Breion Jones, he lost two young children and raised a third who survived as a quadriplegic. The losses and the life he had to lead in the face of so much tragedy has made forgiveness difficult.


3.JPG

“At first, I was good with it,” Henry Jones said of King’s release.

But then he heard Breion Jones’ letter read to the court during the May 2020 hearing describing her anguish at not being able to become a cheerleader, her struggle with attractions to boys while worried about whether they’d only see her wheelchair, her disappointment that she would never be a mother.

“I never knew how she felt until she wrote that letter,” Henry Jones said. “It took something out of me. I’m not good with him getting out, but I know there’s nothing I can do about it because it’s the law.”


Chiwana Jones, Breion Jones’ mother, said she never had time to hate King. After the shock and disbelief of her children’s deaths, she had to care for the living.

“To move forward with my life, I had to just make peace with the whole situation,” she said. “Him getting out of jail won’t bring my kids back.”

A flicker of compassion for King began to grow after Chiwana Jones said she received a letter of apology from him a few years after he was sent to prison.

“He was writing on almost a first-grade level, and that kind of touched me,”
she said.

Chiwana Jones had already devoted herself as her daughter’s personal tutor, re-teaching the youngster math and reading to overcome the learnings deficits and missed school time. Receiving King’s letter sealed for her the importance of an education.

Though she was in nursing school at the time of the crash, Chiwana Jones is a now a fourth-grade teacher at St. Alphonsus School in New Orleans.

“He (King) could honor my children by furthering his education,” she said.


Healing and living

Breion Jones graduated from L.W. Higgins High School in 2014.
In 2019, she received an associate's degree in computer information technology from Delgado Community College. She was working as a ticket taker at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans until the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Breion Jones’ passion is makeup, a hobby she picked up as a coping mechanism to battle her depression. She sells lashes and glitter through her business, Be Breezy Cosmetics, and is angling to work as a makeup artist.

Her family recently made adjustments to a chair that allows clients to lay back, putting them in the perfect position for her to reach their faces for makeup applications.


"I’m a go-getter,” Breion Jones said.

Diana James, now 29, suffered a crushed skull and nearly lost a leg in the crash. She wasn’t expected to live. But she, too, was a fighter. Andrea Manuel raised her niece after her sister, Dion Jones’ death.

Diana James graduated from Edna Karr High School in 2012 and earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Dillard University in 2019. She’s enrolled in Louisiana State University’s School of Allied Health with a goal of becoming a respiratory therapist, inspired by the medical professionals who helped her during her recovery, Manuel said.

While in prison, King's mother and father, as well as his grandparents died. “He will be alone in the world,” Manuel said.

King will find a home with the Louisiana Parole Project, a non-profit that supports people after their release from prison, Slajda said.

King did not speak during Monday’s hearing, but in a letter he read to the court last year, he took responsibility for his actions and apologized.

"If would [sic] like to trade my life for theirs, I would do it in a heartbeat because my intention was not to hurt anyone. But all I did, I just can’t forgive myself for that,” he said.


As Manuel spoke directly to King in the courtroom Monday, his eyes welled with tears, and he silently nodded in her direction.

“We want you to have a family,” she said. “We want you to have a wife and children. We want you to live. You are free. You are free. You are free. You have paid your debt to society.”
 

Sheeeeshh

Team Owner
Joined
Jun 2, 2018
Messages
7,696
Reaction score
Reactions
108,824 7,829 975
108,069
Alleybux
28,000
That's tough and heart wrenching. I got chills when Chiwana decided to become a teacher after reading Terrence's letter. I hope he does use his life for good. He's extremely young and able-bodied from what we can see.

I pray the survivors find their place in this world. Brieon, in spite of her disability, can do great things in her life and I pray she realizes that. Rest in peace to all of the victims.
 

Incokneegrow

<span style="font-weight:bold; font-style:italic;
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
67,149
Reaction score
Reactions
525,823 16,846 5,593
590,451
Alleybux
564,403
my god. all of this is so damn heartbreaking. fµck. i feel bad for all of them. i mean there is so much trauma here.
 

MadAbtU

General Manager
Joined
Jan 6, 2020
Messages
4,332
Reaction score
Reactions
45,360 1,180 172
50,553
Alleybux
467,760
Stories like this make me so nihilistic. Faith and reasoning in anything would be so difficult and something I could never fathom experiencing. I don’t get it, it’s so unfair.

But the girls are beautiful and I commend them for their progression, beyond inspiring.
 

A Mad

MVP
Joined
Jul 10, 2019
Messages
555
Reaction score
Reactions
5,724 125 43
6,401
Alleybux
22,607
I would want him in prison for as long as possible if that happened to my family but, I do think the 20 years is more than enough. That rich teenager ( I think from California) drove drunk/ drugged and killed 4 people and injured some also. He didn’t get a jail sentence because of “Affluenza” was his defense, meaning he was wealthy and yt.
 

Bad Streets

Team Owner
Joined
Oct 12, 2009
Messages
31,904
Reaction score
Reactions
126,725 8,085 1,876
145,022
Alleybux
290,150
Personally, I think he should die in jail, this is not the sentencing reform I want. Some bums need to be in jail.
 

Noladebby

⚜️ Made in New Orleans ⚜️
Joined
Dec 29, 2019
Messages
6,210
Reaction score
Reactions
76,886 2,253 1,262
82,977
Alleybux
75,000
This is just so sad. It's really awful. He was a child at the time, he spent 20 years in prison, and he apologized to them. He spent a good chunk of his life in prison thinking about what he did and the consequences of his actions. He will be haunted for the rest of his life. I'm glad some have forgiven for their own sake. I pray for healing for everyone. :sad7 :broken_heart:
 

luckygirl93

Caramel Goddess
Joined
Dec 21, 2014
Messages
29,517
Reaction score
Reactions
407,609 21,357 16,211
411,354
Alleybux
879,824
I believe in forgiveness but not for this. The man killed 4 people and took their souls off this earth. fµck him, they are better than me cause I would’ve been outside the courthouse ready to kill him.
 

mesmerize

PRINCESS SUSSEX
Joined
Jan 14, 2013
Messages
14,398
Reaction score
Reactions
94,675 7,733 5,638
95,829
Alleybux
539,002
I just wished he walked out of the jail
In a more dignified way. Kiki ing with two white girls like
He just got back from the beach looks like he lacks remorse.
 

MyKnee Hurtin

Injured
Joined
May 10, 2019
Messages
351
Reaction score
Reactions
6,820 1,204 409
7,153
Alleybux
117,163
Sad story, but there’s no way I would have forgiven this guy. 4 murdered and another four are disabled because of him.

That poor girl in the wheelchair, can't even have children. That should be a life sentence or at least release when he is elderly.

edit: I’m being petty, but that picture of him smiling leaving jail upsets me knowing the details of this case.
 

Honee77

Team Owner
Joined
Nov 27, 2018
Messages
13,835
Reaction score
Reactions
137,395 5,133 1,520
151,920
Alleybux
637,729
This is just so sad. It's really awful. He was a child at the time, he spent 20 years in prison, and he apologized to them. He spent a good chunk of his life in prison thinking about what he did and the consequences of his actions. He will be haunted for the rest of his life. I'm glad some have forgiven for their own sake. I pray for healing for everyone. :sad7 :broken_heart:

I know his parents and grandparents have passed...I wonder if he has any other family in the area...Louisiana folks usually have big families...it will be very difficult navigating life with no family...
 

SunnyFluxx

General Manager
Joined
Jun 17, 2020
Messages
3,461
Reaction score
Reactions
39,435 1,188 741
52,419
Alleybux
13,699
Those who have strength to forgive are some of the strongest people I have witnessed. I could never do it but admire those that can.
 

Incokneegrow

<span style="font-weight:bold; font-style:italic;
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
67,149
Reaction score
Reactions
525,823 16,846 5,593
590,451
Alleybux
564,403
I just wished he walked out of the jail
In a more dignified way. Kiki ing with two white girls like
He just got back from the beach looks like he lacks remorse.
Come on now. They most likely were apatt of his legal representation team. They say he was apart of some social project that helped him and he's going to some kind of halfway house type of place. I wouldn't expect him to look anything else but happy. He literally grew up in prison. Its sad all the way around.
 

SeeMyselfOut

AGE 20: Last Year, This Year and Next Year
Joined
Mar 31, 2019
Messages
6,267
Reaction score
Reactions
29,140 3,496 319
33,650
Alleybux
15,030
I just wished he walked out of the jail
In a more dignified way. Kiki ing with two white girls like
He just got back from the beach looks like he lacks remorse.
my thoughts exactly. Smiling was NOT a good look by all
 

TiredoftheBS

Back to putting y’all’s stupid threads on ignore!
Joined
Dec 23, 2016
Messages
19,604
Reaction score
Reactions
127,076 5,312 3,329
143,658
Alleybux
3,600
I would want him in prison for as long as possible if that happened to my family but, I do think the 20 years is more than enough. That rich teenager ( I think from California) drove drunk/ drugged and killed 4 people and injured some also. He didn’t get a jail sentence because of “Affluenza” was his defense, meaning he was wealthy and yt.
I thought that was Texas
 

NZURI

Delete Account
Joined
Apr 26, 2014
Messages
23,864
Reaction score
Reactions
257,693 8,171 8,001
256,762
Alleybux
602,354
I don't think 80 years is excessive for taking four lives and maiming several others.
 

BrownSkyn22

I just came to dance...dassit.
Joined
Jan 26, 2017
Messages
9,332
Reaction score
Reactions
94,054 2,758 571
98,742
Alleybux
538,704
The optics of him grinning in that picture throws me off.

If the family is cool with it then i can't be mad.

20 years for taking 4 lives, paralyzing 1 and causing injuries to others seems a bit lenient to me.
 

Bad Streets

Team Owner
Joined
Oct 12, 2009
Messages
31,904
Reaction score
Reactions
126,725 8,085 1,876
145,022
Alleybux
290,150
Louisiana incarcerates a lot of people and gives people long sentences and has done so for a long ass time and now people are calling for reform and unfortunately in those calls for reform you are going to have situations like this where the response is "mixed".

If he got 80 years for selling weed or stolen MacBooks, I'd be happy to see him leave jail but four lives are lost and others are forever altered. I'd feel more comfortable if he left jail in his 70s with all of his youth gone, instead of his late 30s with still a relatively full life left to live.
 

chaelili

Et Dieu Créa la femme noire
Joined
Jul 10, 2020
Messages
8,634
Reaction score
Reactions
94,057 4,184 346
101,478
Alleybux
540,638
I am disgusted. I honestly have lost any kind of sympathy for murderers recently, even young ones. He gets to live his life after destroying so many others and he’s smiling like he did something right. People think this will haunt him forever but will it really? Some people will just go on living with no remorse. I would have wanted him locked up for life.
 

EarthQueen

General Manager
Joined
Dec 30, 2017
Messages
3,999
Reaction score
Reactions
60,214 407 207
60,803
Alleybux
440,188
I
Personally, I think he should die in jail, this is not the sentencing reform I want. Some bums need to be in jail.
I agree. I will never ever think it’s fair for someone to be the cause of someone’s death and still get to live their life free (unless it’s self defense/defending someone vulnerable). The guilty person will say they feel bad under these circumstances but still push for their release so they can live the life they want. I know life isn’t fair but come on. You are responsible for 4 deaths and other injuries. If he really isn’t remorseful, he’s likely to end up self destructing. So many people released who shouldn’t be end up back in trouble so we will see. I wouldn’t forgive anything and that’s perfectly fine. People don’t always harbor animosity when they choose not to forgive but they just know that the guilty person doesn’t deserve it. Because if that had been my family I don’t care the circumstances. I wouldn’t forgive because you can’t bring family members back from the dead.
 

mesmerize

PRINCESS SUSSEX
Joined
Jan 14, 2013
Messages
14,398
Reaction score
Reactions
94,675 7,733 5,638
95,829
Alleybux
539,002
Come on now. They most likely were apatt of his legal representation team. They say he was apart of some social project that helped him and he's going to some kind of halfway house type of place. I wouldn't expect him to look anything else but happy. He literally grew up in prison. Its sad all the way around.
I sound harsh? You have a point— Of course they are happy and hi s lawyers must feel great but with all of those tragedies and a girl in a wheelchair who has dealt w so much trauma, the one lasting visual is the walk out of the courthouse. A minute to be more solemn is the difference between seeming like a mature remorseful person vs looking like you got one over.
 

Incokneegrow

<span style="font-weight:bold; font-style:italic;
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
67,149
Reaction score
Reactions
525,823 16,846 5,593
590,451
Alleybux
564,403
I sound harsh? You have a point— Of course they are happy and hi s lawyers must feel great but with all of those tragedies and a girl in a wheelchair who has dealt w so much trauma, the one lasting visual is the walk out of the courthouse. A minute to be more solemn is the difference between seeming like a mature remorseful person vs looking like you got one over.
lol i wouldnt expect someone who went to jail at 15 to come out mature. how did he get over when he was in jail for 20 years? He lost his family while he was in there and based on the fact that it aint nothing but what appears to be his handlers, it seems like he dont have much support.
 

mesmerize

PRINCESS SUSSEX
Joined
Jan 14, 2013
Messages
14,398
Reaction score
Reactions
94,675 7,733 5,638
95,829
Alleybux
539,002
lol i wouldnt expect someone who went to jail at 15 to come out mature. how did he get over when he was in jail for 20 years? He lost his family while he was in there and based on the fact that it aint nothing but what appears to be his handlers, it seems like he dont have much support.
wow. I didnt realize he lost his family while he was in there. Sad all around.
 

Similar Threads

News Alley

Ask LSA

The Lounge

General Alley

Top Bottom