Cocaine. Vandalism. Theft. Teenage fatherhood. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. High school dropout. Violent home. Drug-addicted mom. A murdered friend. Juvie jail.
Between them, this was their life.
All before they were old enough to drive.
In the Anchorage Superior Court room, Judge Patrick McKay handed down prison sentences for Keen Smith, now 17, and Daniel Byrd, now 18, for the 2007 gang-related assault that so easily could have been murder. Smith got seven years. Byrd, the gunman, got nine.
McKay said he wanted to give Smith less, but the law was firm. Use a gun on someone, even as an accomplice, get seven years.
As for Byrd, a victim of FAS, he said: "A long time ago, there should have been an intervention. Everybody saw the signs and didn't follow through."
During the afternoon court proceeding, Smith, with studious-looking glasses perched on his nose, often turned to look behind him at his father, a man with his own checkered past, including gang membership and prison time. The elder Smith said he desperately tried to keep his son from repeating his mistakes.
Byrd, with neat cornrows that met in the back of his neck at a short ponytail, also turned toward a woman who alternated between shaking her head and crying. At one point, after the defense attorney said Byrd had been high on cocaine the night of the shooting, she pointed her finger toward the teen and mouthed, "Did you do drugs?"
He nodded yes, then quickly looked away.
McKay called what happened in Mountain View on Nov. 2, 2007, "a perfect storm."
Byrd and Smith had known each other only three days when they walked down that dark alley. Byrd was high on "White Lady" coke and was member of something called the Folk Nation street gang. Smith carried a loaded handgun. The 16-year-old who ended up shot followed them, taunting, mistaking them for someone who had beaten up his sister's boyfriend. The boys argued over gang territory.
"Shoot me," the victim dared them.
Smith says he handed the gun to Byrd so he could box the taunting teen, fight him with his fists. But, scared and impulsive, Byrd shot instead.
The bullet collapsed the victim's lung.
He lived only because Alaska Regional Hospital was just blocks away, said prosecutor John Novak.
Smith and Byrd were arrested and thrown into adult jail, which is where they've been since that night. In October 2008, they pleaded no contest to assault charges after a deal with the prosecution reduced their original charges of attempted murder.
Both boys, everyone in the courtroom on Monday agreed, were acting out what they considered adult behavior, the aggression and posturing of kids growing up too fast.
"We need to give them time to grow up and be less dangerous," said Andrea Russell, with the Office of Victims' Rights, before McKay made his decision.
The defense attorneys said the teens were adolescent boys making adolescent mistakes. Punish them, but don't destroy their lives, they urged.
Smith's defense attorney, Chris Provost, argued that Smith was a follower with an undeveloped adolescent brain that needed more time to stop making stupid boy decisions.
Smith's father, Keen Smith Sr., sat with arms around sleeping children on either side of him. He rescued his son in 2004 from a mother who was spiraling out of control in Florida, he said. An ex-Marine, he did everything he could to keep his boy from the wrong path. He searched his room regularly for signs of trouble. He asked authorities for help when his son stayed out past curfew. He taught him to fight with his fists so he wouldn't need a gun. He was trying to get him to return to school.
Byrd's lawyer, Michael Moberly, argued that the state, the schools and Byrd's own family failed to deal with his client's FAS. He's predisposed to impulsive behavior, he said. He doesn't understand consequences.
Byrd was born under the influence. The state Office of Children's Services got involved but never managed to get treatment for him.
"We, as a system, have to take some ownership," Moberly said.
McKay said it was difficult for him to put himself in the boys' shoes. The obstacles they grew up with were alien to his own life, where he had opportunities. Still, they shot and almost killed someone.
When it was all over, a uniformed guard took the boys back to prison.
Find Megan Holland online at adn.com/contact/mholland or call 257-4343.
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