A twenty-year-old was sentenced Friday to nearly three decades in prison for a murder committed when he was 15.
Tyliek Smith was sentenced to 27 years in prison by Judge William C. Carpenter Jr. for the October 2017 murder of Dwayne Grimes, 19.
Grimes was shot in Wilmington’s West Center City neighborhood. Smith was arrested in West Virginia and indicted on a first-degree murder charge in 2019. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and a gun charge, according to court records.
At Friday’s sentencing hearing, Deputy Attorney General Matthew Frawley asked the judge to sentence Smith to 30 years behind bars. He described Smith shooting Grimes as a “cold, callous and intentional act,” indicating that evidence showed Smith ambushed Grimes with a shotgun.
He said evidence showed Smith had “mocked” Grimes’ death and “found a way to laugh and joke about the commission of this brutal offense.”
Grimes’ mother told the court that her only son was studying with the aim of serving in the U.S. Air Force, that his daughter was born after his murder but still tells her she misses her father.
“No amount of time can actually heal my broken heart,” she told the court.
PRIOR RULING: Judge says 17-year-old will be tried for murder of Dwayne Grimes as an adult
Smith rose from the defendant’s table to speak briefly, telling Grimes’ family he is sorry.
His defense attorney argued for a 25-year sentence, noting that Smith was 15 at the time of the killing and that his upbringing was marked by periods of “homelessness and poverty.”
Ultimately, Carpenter split the difference between the defense and prosecution sentence request, handing down a 27-year term. He remarked that the situation is a reflection of the prevalence of firearms in cities like Wilmington and said it is “too much of the norm.”
Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.
