Two mothers share grief at sentencing

Doretha Parker and Cheryl Smith hugged each other tightly and cried together in the hallway outside a St. Paul courtroom on Tuesday afternoon.

"We both lost a son today," Parker said.

Parker's son, Leon Tyrise Brooks, was murdered April 24, 2005. But his family didn't get closure until Tuesday, when Smith's son, Vincent L. Smith, was sentenced by Ramsey County District Judge John B. Van de North to 26 years and 3 months in prison. He will be eligible for release in 17½ years.

Smith, 25, pleaded guilty Nov. 13 to second-degree intentional murder. He admitted being an accomplice to Tyvarus L. Lindsey, convicted in October of two counts of second-degree murder and sentenced last month to 36 years in prison.

Smith and Lindsey set out to steal Brooks' shiny new sport-utility vehicle as he and two women left an after-hours party in St. Paul. The armed robbery went awry and Brooks was shot as he ran. Police later discovered photographs showing Lindsey and Smith posing with a watch and ring Brooks had been wearing the night he was killed.

"My son -- I miss him very dearly, [and] in the process of losing one son, I lost two," Parker told the court Tuesday, adding that six months after Brooks' death, his younger brother committed suicide.

"This Christmas there was no Christmas," she said. "Nobody in the family put up a Christmas tree. Nobody even cooked Christmas dinner," she said. "Going through this is like burying my son all over again."

"I just wanted to apologize to you for what happened to your son and your family," Smith said, turning toward Parker.

The Rev. Wilburt Brooks, the victim's uncle, told the court that the family is grateful to have closure.

"I hope the young man, he'll find salvation and do something productive with his life," Brooks said.