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Jacksonville teen pleads guilty to second-degree murder in shooting of mentor

Thu, Oct 1, 2015

THEN: Andrew Parham, 11, stops along a walkway at Eureka Garden apartments on Jan. 1, 2011, to stare at a lone teddy bear on the rain-soaked ground where Jacksonville's latest homicide victim lay only hours earlier. "I feel bad for him," Andrew said of the victim. "People killing people over petty things ..."

NOW: Andrew Parham walks into a courtroom Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015, for his second-degree murder plea in Jacksonville. [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]

On New Year’s Eve morning in 2009, 11-year-old Andrew Ryan Parham stopped along a walkway at Eureka Garden apartments and stared at a teddy bear on the rain-soaked ground where a shooting victim had lain hours earlier.

“I feel bad for him. People killing people over petty things ...” the boy told the Times-Union as his voice trailed off.

Six years later that sad boy is now a 17-year-old convicted murderer. Parham was 15 when he was arrested for his role in the March 2014 shooting death of Christopher Alexander Cornelio while crashing a party at the same apartment complex. According to police, Parham and two other men showed up uninvited and got into a dispute with the 22-year-old.

Prosecutors said Parham pistol-whipped a man before shooting Cornelio.

Under the plea deal prosecutors dropped the charge against Parham from first to second-degree murder, and Circuit Judge Tatiana Salvador will sentence him to a prison term somewhere from 10 to 30 years. A sentencing hearing will be set during the first week of November.

Parham agreed to the plea deal with his attorneys and his mother standing beside him. At one point Salvador allowed Anne Parham to hug her son and whisper something in his ear.

Afterward she said she told her son she loved him and that he was making the right decision by taking the plea deal.

Defense attorney Julie Schlax declined to get into detail on how Parham could go from an innocent-looking 11-year-old to someone charged with murder at 15, saying she didn’t want to discuss her client’s defense before the sentencing hearing. But Schlax did say the availability of guns at Eureka and the surrounding neighborhood was a factor.

“You grow up in a place where guns are everywhere,” Schlax said. “They’re passed around like candy.”

Parham, Ernest Glenn Taylor and Timothy Duane Stewart were all carrying guns at the complex in the 1200 block of Labelle Street.

“Kids are getting younger and younger and committing these crimes,” said Assistant State Attorney Alan Mizrahi. “And they’re getting guns at a younger age.”

Schlax said Cornelio was a mentor to Parham and the two were friends. She will likely argue at the sentencing hearing that the gun went off accidentally, and Parham didn’t mean to shoot Cornelio.

Parham also pleaded guilty to aggravated battery in a separate incident and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for that crime. He will serve that concurrently with the sentence for Cornelio’s murder.

Taylor, 28, and Stewart, 20, also took plea deals Thursday.

Taylor pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm, weapon or ammunition by a felon and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Stewart pleaded guilty to possession of a weapon or ammunition and was sentenced to 21 months in prison with credit for the 553 days he has already been locked up. He also pleaded guilty to battery in a detention facility in a separate criminal case and was sentenced to 343 days time served.

As part of the plea deals, a burglary charge was dropped against both Taylor and Stewart.

Mizrahi said Parham was the one who actually killed Cornelio. Taylor and Stewart were never charged with murder.

[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]

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June 17, 2015,

JACKSON, Miss. – A correctional officer is charged with kidnapping, armed robbery, and capital murder, according to the state Department of Corrections..

Police arrested 22-year-old Andre Kennedy Tuesday. On Saturday, two men attempted to rob an Eastover homeowner.

The homeowner was able to shoot one of the suspects in self-defense, but the other person got away. 23-year-old Edwin Robinson died from his injuries. Kennedy was identified as the second suspect and was arrested Tuesday.

Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Marshall Fisher said Kennedy is suspended without pay. Kennedy has worked at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility Rankin County since January 2014.

“We are in the process of implementing new hiring policies, including the use of polygraphs,” Fisher said. “Although polygraphs are not foolproof, they are an excellent screening tool in the hiring process.”
[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]