Earlier this year, we covered the story of 17-year-old Marquis Dixon, an Albany, N.Y., teenager who was sentenced to nine years in prison after brandishing a weapon during a sneaker robbery. Dixon's family is arguing that the punishment doesn't fit the crime.
"Yes, my son is guilty of a crime. He's guilty of stealing sneakers. He's not guilty of a gun charge. And all I ask for is justice to be done the correct way," Aisha Dixon, Marquis' mother, said.
CBS6 Albany was on the scene at the Albany County District Attorney's Office, where protestors pushed for Dixon's appeal and also demanded that the age for criminal responsibility be increased. Along with North Carolina, New York is one of the only states in the country where 16-year-olds can be tried as adults.
The District Attorney later fired back with the following statement:
First, let me be clear: Mr. Dixon did not simply “steal” or “take” a pair of sneakers; he mugged an innocent young man at gunpoint. Had he merely “stolen” or “taken” a pair of sneakers from a retailer and received a 9 year sentence, I too would be in line with protesters calling for justice. But the facts are the facts, and I don’t have the luxury of changing them.
This is a complicated situation, and there are a lot of different factors at play, but at the end of the day, a jury believed that there was enough evidence to prove Dixon had used a firearm in the robbery, thus upping his sentence. Until further evidence comes out, it's unlikely that this sentence will be overturned.
