The fate of a Lansing teen is in the hands of an Ingham County jury Tuesday night.
Attorneys delivered closing arguments Tuesday in the murder case against 15-year- old Charles Lewis Junior. He's accused in the 2010 shooting death of Shayla Johnson.
A 15-year-old boy sat in a courtroom Tuesday, accused in what prosecutors call a gang-related murder. Lewis was just 13 when police say he took part in a brutal plan to gun down 19-year-old Shayla Johnson.
"We do not have to prove that Charles Lewis Junior, 'Little Chuck,' fired the gun... that he pulled the trigger, we don't have to pull that. We don't have to prove that. All we have to prove is that he assisted," said Jeff Cruz, Ingham County Assistant Prosecutor.
Prosecutors say Lewis and a group of six men, including his father, were all armed the night they broke into Johnson's home, beat her, carried her to the trunk of a car and shot her.
"This is the weapon that killed her, and Chuck Senior is the one who shot her, five times in that Caprice Classic. And Chuck Junior, Charles Lewis Junior, was part of that plan," said Cruz.
The defendant's attorney, Keith Watson, says the boy followed the men that summer night. He told jurors there's no physical evidence that links Lewis to the murder.
"No gun has any print of my client on it. No gun has any DNA of my client, no shirt that was found, any of that other stuff, hazmat looking stuff. None of that stuff ties in any way to my client," said Watson.
After hearing six days of testimony from sixteen witnesses, a panel of jurors has to decide if this boy should go to prison for the murder of Shayla Johnson.
Charles Lewis Junior's trial was held in juvenile court. He faces six charges, including first degree felony murder, home invasion and assault with intent to commit robbery while armed.
If convicted of first degree felony murder, Lewis faces life in prison with no parole.
