TAMPA, Fla. (WTSP) – The teen who admitted to shooting a Brandon High School basketball player on New Year’s Day 2017 will face a judge Wednesday, and the victim’s family is calling for justice.
“I'm not down here for revenge. We just want him to be held accountable for his actions,” said Johnny Johnson.
His son, Jayquon, was just 17 when he was killed in a Valrico garage during a drug deal. The teen who admitted to the shooting said he acted in self-defense.
However, the investigation was hampered when the shooter’s mom buried the guns in her backyard after realizing what her son did. A jury found Heidi Quinn guilty of tampering with evidence in April.
A judge in that case called the series of events “unbelievable.”
The teen will face a different judge Wednesday on weapons and drug charges. He was never charged with murder.
Jayquon’s family now says they will petition elected officials to pursue changes to the current stand-your-ground laws, which recently shifted the burden of proof from the defense to the prosecution.
“We want to have our representatives re-look at stand-your-ground laws because my family feels that the burden of proof shouldn't be on the prosecutor to prove something. It should be easy for a person to prove if they feared for their life or if they felt endangered,” said Johnson, who is still mourning the loss of his son.
"We're not asking for anything but for everybody to be held accountable. Plain and simple,” said Johnson. “We're not looking for no revenge. We're looking to make a change, a silver lining to this here. can we change someone else life? Can we get our politicians to really listen to us with all these gun issues going on? And stand your ground is one of the first."
Emerald Morrow is a reporter with 10News WTSP. Like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter. You can also email her at emorrow@wtsp.com.
