A judge and prosecutor said Friday that a five-year sentence given to a Georgia teen who stole a pair of $100 shoes was appropriate because a gun was used during the robbery. Dayonn Davis, 18 was sentenced this week to five years in prison followed by 10 years of probation.
He was charged as an adult even though he was 15 when the crime was committed and his lawyer said he had no prior record.
Prosecutor Sadhana Dailey said in court that Davis contacted the owner of the Nike Oreos – so called because they’re black and white – after seeing them for sale on Facebook, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
They arranged to meet at a Columbus park on Jan. 17, 2016.
Another male went with Davis to the meeting. When Davis tried the shoes on, he told the seller, ‘These shoes is took.’ The other male pulled out a gun and everyone fled, the newspaper reports.
‘This was an armed robbery. It’s not a theft. There’s a big difference between a theft and an armed robbery,’ Dailey told The Associated Press on Friday in a phone interview. ‘The teen victim was robbed at gunpoint.’
Columbus police quickly identified Davis, who had the shoes in his closet.
Davis initially told police no one else was involved but eventually gave a name, but the seller of the shoes couldn’t identify the person in a photo lineup as the gunman, the newspaper reported.
Davis was charged with armed robbery and reached a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to robbery by force, which allowed him to avoid the mandatory 10-year sentence that comes with an armed robbery conviction, Dailey said.
‘He got a break,’ she said.
Judge Peters called the case an unfortunate situation and told the AP he would rather it have been handled in juvenile court. Dailey said it was appropriate to charge Davis as an adult because of the seriousness of the crime.
