Three Elkhart teens charged with felony murder were sentenced to 45-65 years in prison after a home invasion in October 2012. The convictions have been the source of heated argument and on Friday, three of the four teens appeared on "Dr. Phil."
Storified by Anne Christnovich · Fri, Jan 17 2014 19:29:33
Blake Layman's mom: "I know what the boys did was wrong, but stealing is not killing."
Jose Quiroz's mom breaks down remembering the day her son was arrested for murder.
"when the prosecutor announced he was charging the boys with murder, i was in shock, i went to the porch and threw up," -sparks' mom
Jose's mom "It just happened that Danzele died, but it was not because of our boys."
The mother's insist their sons were not thugs, just did "something very, very stupid."
"I feel like we committed a burglary, we didn't kill anyone," Layman said.
Sharp and Sparks agree they should have been charged with burglary
"We didn't pull the trigger or kill nobody," Sharp said.
"What the hell were you doing breaking into some man's house in the middle of the afternoon? What were you thinking?" -@DrPhil
Layman said the homeowner's watch and wallet were on the counter. "i didn't think anything of it at the time. I picked it up and that was it
A juror from the trial will join the show after the commercial break and share the jury's thought process in convicting the boys.
Judge said jurors ahd to consider: 1) was felony committed 2) were all boys involved
3) was someone killed, 4) did boys know there was imminent danger
Juror said the boys saw the truck, wallet and watch, which should have been signs taht someone was home = imminent danger
"it was hard to look at them as adults" -juror
"When we came up with the verdict, we all held hands and said a prayer for the boys and their families," juror said.
"The imminent danger was a real sticking point for us. It took a while for us to get past that." juror said.
"We had no choice but to convict them of felony murder," juror said.
