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A Chicago man received a 105-year prison sentence in the shooting death of a 14-year-old Black girl prosecutors described as an "execution."
Deonlashawn Simmons, 36, was sentenced in Indiana Thursday (April 14) in the September 2019 fatal shooting of Takaylah Tribitt, WGN 9 News reported. Tribitt's body was discovered in a Gary, Indiana alley face down with her hands bound together behind her back with cords, near where Simmons' family lived, court documents stated. Prosecutors said Tribitt's body was found five days after meeting Simmons at a birthday party.
A jury convicted Simmons of the killing in March and he later admitted to firearm and repeat offenses. In court, Simmons said he would appeal the jury's decision and maintains his innocence.
Attorney Doug Shaw described the teen as a "defenseless child" and said the 105-year sentence was "all the law allows us" for the "execution." Simmons' attorneys requested a 56-year prison sentence with five of those years being for probation.
According to the Times of Northwest Indiana, investigators determined Tribitt had been sexually assaulted and the DNA of two men were found on the cords used to bind her hands. One of the DNA profiles matched Simmons, but he wasn't charged with sex crimes.
"She was 14," her mother, Laura Tribitt, told the Times. "She was a baby. I don't want to say no more. I really don't want to look at him."
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