"You took my nephew! You wrecked my family!" Thelma "Rochelle" Robertson yelled, pointing at Derrick Jones. "I hate you. You deserve to die."
Jones, 29, looked at Robertson several times as federal marshals stood between them, but remained silent.
In 2005, authorities say, it was a feud between Jones and Robertson that led to the fatal shooting of 14-year-old Barry "Reese" Robertson, of Camden, who was sleeping with his cousin on a couch in his aunt's living room. Jones, angry that Thelma Robertson wouldn't sell drugs for him, shot seven rounds into her Lindenwold apartment.
"You could have killed my daughter!" Robertson yelled. "My nephew died in my arms."
Jones remained quiet until marshals calmed Robertson and encouraged her to return to her seat in the courtroom, where three other Robertson relatives cried and hugged. They included Barry Robertson's mother, Mary; his grandmother, Barbara; and another aunt, Brenda.
The three women were too shaken to speak.
When asked, Jones addressed the judge as he stood next to his attorney, Christopher O'Malley.
Jones, a high school dropout and career criminal who had been repeatedly arrested and jailed since his juvenile years, said he didn't blame his family or anyone else for what he did.
"I wish I could change what I did," Jones said. "It was not intentional. It was a mistake."
Both prosecutors and the defense agreed the tragedy was caused by reckless, senseless actions.
"This is one of those cases where people were fighting over nothing," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Richardson.
O'Malley concurred.
"It was a careless, reprehensible action," the defense attorney told the judge as he explained that Robertson had turned to drugs after his parents failed him and that he had raised himself on the street with little education and no job skills. He had a plan where he "insanely thought he could shoot up an apartment and get what he wanted."
U.S. District Judge Joel A. Pisano acknowledged that Jones accepted responsibility and said he considered several matters in determining a sentence, including the interests of Robertson's family, who lost a loved one over "literally a meaningless dispute."
"This is a complete and utter failure in the criminal justice system in New Jersey," Pisano said, noting how many times Jones had been arrested.
Authorities said Jones wanted Robertson to sell marijuana and crack for him at Arborwood Condominiums, but she refused.
Instead, Robertson's boyfriend and several others attempted to rob Jones and assaulted him. Authorities said yesterday he tried to start a new life in Virginia, but it didn't work out. Instead, Jones had his sister purchase a .45-caliber handgun for him and he returned to New Jersey planning to get back his "street cred," according to court documents.
When he sprayed Robertson's apartment with gunfire, at least four children were inside, including Robertson, who was struck in the head.
The relatives in court yesterday wore T-shirts with Robertson's picture and the words In loving memory, gone but not forgotten. In the past, they recalled the teenager, the youngest of five, as a hardworking student who liked to help others.
His mother has said that she had allowed her son to stay with his aunt on weekends because she thought he was safer there than in Camden.
Jones, who earned an equivalency diploma from the Jamesburg School for Boys, submitted to the judge at least two letters written on his behalf, including one from his stepfather.
His previous arrests included drug and gun offenses.
When Jones last got out of jail in 2005, prosecutors said, he organized the drug gang OGM - Organization to Get Money - and quickly returned to his old habits.
Jones pleaded guilty to the shooting during the summer after making a deal with prosecutors who agreed to a 22- to 27-year sentencing range, and agreed not to pursue life in prison or the death penalty.
Jones was sentenced to serve another 25-year sentence, plus additional time on five counts filed in Virginia for weapons offenses. However, he will serve that time concurrently with his New Jersey sentence, followed by five years of supervised released.
The judge also ordered Jones to make restitution of $6,664 to pay for the victim's funeral.
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