De’Marquise Elkins sentenced to life in prison without parole for shooting and killing baby
Russ Bynum, Associated Press | 13/09/13 8:37 AM ET
A Glynn County Sheriff's Deputy directs 17 year-old De Marquise Elkins out of the courtroom in the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, Ga. after Elkin's first appearance hearing in Magistrate Court Monday, March 25, 2013. AP Photo/The Brunswick News/Bobby Haven
BRUNSWICK — A teenager convicted of fatally shooting a baby in a stroller was sentenced Thursday to spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole after the grieving mother asked a judge to punish the gunman for taking “the love of my life.”
In a case that has drawn attention around the country, 18-year-old De’Marquise Elkins stood silent and showed no emotion as he was sentenced less than two weeks after a jury found him guilty of murder in the slaying of 13-month-old Antonio Santiago during a robbery attempt.
“His first word was never heard. His first sentence was never said,” Sherry West, the baby’s mother, said through tears on the witness stand as she read a statement made to rhyme like a poem or a nursery rhyme. “He never got to sleep in a toddler bed.”
