A Brooklyn judge delivered a scathing condemnation of violent street culture Wednesday as he sentenced a smiling teenage girl to 20 years to life in prison for a gang slaying.
“This isn’t a civil society when your children become murderers,” Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Vincent Del Giudice thundered.
“It’s up to the adults in the community to make sure this doesn’t happen. Society is better than that.”
Del Giudice sentenced Sahiah “Uzi” Davis, 18, for fatally shooting Nathaniel Walcott, 16, in the back on a Brownsville street in 2011 after he yelled out a rival gang call.
Davis, who was convicted, earlier this month, was a member of the Wave Gang, while Walcott rolled with Hood Starz, prosecutors said.
“How many of our children must die on the streets of Brooklyn and how many must I sentence for murder?” wondered Del Giudice. “I’m at a loss. Why does a 16-year-old kid have a gun?”
Prosecutor Marc Fliedner read a handwritten statement from Walcott’s 20-year-old sister.
“When he died, he took a part of me with him,” her statement read. “I will never be the same Latoya Walcott.”
In a bid to get his client a lower sentence, defense lawyer Calvin Simons said nobody saw Davis fire the shots that killed Walcott.
But Fliedner reminded the judge of the witnesses who saw Davis holding the gun in the instant before the shooting and the instant after — and of the testimony of a medical examiner who said Davis was the shooter.
“She did not see the value of human life because she saw someone as an adversary,” Fliedner said.
Davis and Moore were indicted in a massive gang takedown that nabbed 43 street thugs from the Wave Gang and Hood Starz in 2012.
“The gangs had a longstanding feud over territory, leading to wanton and reckless behavior where kids would shoot at each other because they were in the wrong gang or on the wrong street or in front of the wrong building,” DA Charles Hynes said at the time.
A remorseless Davis declined to speak before she was sentenced. She also got five years for the illegal gun.
She gave a slight smile as she was led out of court.
At the time of the murder, Davis had just completed her freshman year at George Westinghouse HS in Brooklyn.