Lakeith Smith was sentenced 65 years in prison for a crime he did not commit in 2015, when he was at the age of 15,  after not accepting the plea deal of 25 years. He was charged with 30 years of the murder of his friend A’Donte Washington, despite A’Donte being shot by Alabama police, on top of the 15 years for burglary, and 10 years each of two theft convictions. District Attorney C.J. Robinson has even stated “it will be a long time before he comes up for even the possibility for parole, at least 20 to 25 years.” Currently, his sentence has been reduced to 55 years because “one of Smith’s 10-year sentences for a theft charge could not be run consecutively with his 15-year sentence for a first-degree burglary conviction.“

In light of recent events, many cases of this sort gained nation wide attention, rightfully so. This is one of the many cases that supports the fact that the justice system has failed countless black men time and time again. We demand a re-evaluation of the case with the fact that Lakeith is a minor put into the verdict. We demand proper justice exhibited, the officer that had murdered A’Donte Washington to be prosecuted and receive the sentence that Lakeith is serving for him. We demand that the unjust murder charges put on Lakeith to be dropped as well as he should only be charged for felonies he did commit, not the murder of his friend.