The man is guilty of the death of the teenager of Gastonia

A man guilty of being guilty of being guilty of a second-degree Gastonia teenager Murder.

The 22-year-old Ja'kelan Duval was convicted in the death of 19-year-old Deionte Sparkman, who was shot down in a Gastonia street in the afternoon of May 16, 2022. The judge of the Supreme Court, David Phillips, sentenced Duval to 12 to 15 years in prison.

The police found Sparkman on the street on Westwood Circle, dead from a gunshot wound to the head, said the deputy district prosecutor Megan Rhoden.

Officers finally learned that a friend of Sparkman, another 19-year-old man, had been shot, but survived. He told the police that the shooter shot her from a silver Porsche. The police found the Porsche and finally went to a house in South Carolina, where they found the then 20-year-old Mary Bentley. Bentley admitted to the police that she and Duval were in the Porsche that day, and that day Duval went to the Westwood Circle. Bentley believed that they would go there because of a drug agreement, said Rhoden, but Duval said Bentley that he should drive and climbed back.

Bentley told the police that Sparkman and his friend took the street, and Duval began to shoot out of the rear window.

Bentley agreed to testify against Duval, but Sparkman's friend refused to work with prosecutors, said Rhoden. Rhoden added that she believed that the shootout was related to a gang and that Sparkman may not be the goal.

Steven Peoples, Sparkman's father, told judge Phillips that he had not been able to be able to employ his son's death for three years.

“It was not just me, but also my whole family,” he said. “When I go to sleep at night, I think about it. When I wake up, I think about it.”

He said he had to go to the Caromont Regional Medical Center and identify his son when he was on a Gurney.

“It's just so unreal. It's so unreal,” he said.

He said his family moved because of the shootout.

“My son, he had nothing to do with this situation, not nothing,” he said.

Cynthia Stitt, who has been looking after Sparkman since his sixth grade, said that Sparkman was planning to go to college.

“Life was not fair,” she said.

Sparkman's mother, Nikki Peoples, said that she awarded Duval for his actions.

“We lost two lives. We lost my son's life and Duval's parents lost his,” she said. “I have to forgive him for his actions to have peace in me.”

But she added: “You killed him in cold blood at 12:30 p.m.. I'm not satisfied with it, but I have to accept it because nothing will bring my son back.

“I wish you all the best, because if I hold a resentment against you, I would kill myself and my son wouldn't want it.”

Duval seemed incomplete than the peoples spoke.

District Prosecutor Travis Page said in a statement that he was not satisfied by Duval's plea.

“In fact, it is a disgusting and reprehensible example that a long -term problem is becoming increasingly common: the accomplice of a community with violence and murder,” he said.

In his explanation, he said that Sparkman's friend, who was also shot, avoided lectures and refused to meet law enforcement authorities and prosecutors.

“His friends and family helped when he left his friend,” he said.

In an interview, Page said that the lack of cooperation in his office was a long -time problem in Gaston County and elsewhere.

“People have to be ready to come to court, to say and say what they saw,” said Page. “And believe in a judicial system that will take people accountable. This is what we strive for, a judicial system that actually delivers justice for victims of crime, and the only way we can do this is that people are ready and have the courage to say.”

If this young man had worked together, Page's office could have tried to send Duval to prison for life, he said.

Sparkman's death led to the creation of 101 black men, a coalition that was formed in Gastonia's highland community to offer African Americans in the municipality of Mentoring, Education and other opportunities.

This article originally appeared in the Gaston Gazette: the man is guilty of the death of the teenager of Gastonia