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Stop Snitchin’

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But when Feaster finally appeared in court on April 18, the witnesses were absent. Scared for their lives, both skipped town. V-Not had gotten to them. "These gangs have a very good network of communication," Parnell says.

Prosecutors were forced to offer Feaster a plea. In exchange for testimony against other V-Not suspects, he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

Judge Teodosio suspended a 13-year adult sentence. Instead, Feaster would serve only four years in juvenile detention, unless he committed another felony during incarceration.

When the verdict was announced, Sandra Lester fled the courtroom in tears.

By May, Summit County had charged five more V-Not members with Shawrica's death, including 15-year-old Earl Davis, 16-year-old Lloyd Burnside, and 17-year-old Ricardo Travis. Eyewitnesses identified the three as shooters outside The Cage that night.

It was devastating news for Sandra. After all, her children had grown up with the boys.

Sandra's oldest daughter, Kenya, was once such good friends with Travis that she referred to him as her cousin. He was a quiet kid, obsessed with basketball and football. After Kenya changed schools, she didn't see Travis for several years. Then one day she ran into him in the street. She hardly recognized him, his lanky frame enveloped in designer XXL clothing. "He was completely changed," Kenya says. "His attitude, his style. He'd just started running with the wrong kids. The streets got him."

The same went for Burnside. Sandra had lived close to his mother, Jennifer. He'd always been a focused and obedient child. When Sandra heard he was hanging around the V-Nots, she was shocked. "It just wasn't him," she says. "He was a star athlete. He had promise."

But the most painful part was the arrest of Earl Davis. Sandra had grown up with his father, Earl Sr. They'd known each other since fourth grade, and she'd become close friends with his wife, Misty Rogers. When the family discovered that Davis was hanging out with V-Not members, they tried to send him to relatives out of state. But it was no use.

"Earl's dad went to prison for drugs," Sandra says. "But he really is a good man. And I believe that if he was around, [Earl Jr.] wouldn't have gotten so deep into all this."

Davis' and Burnside's mothers were equally shocked by their sons' arrests and immediately came to their defense. "My son was in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Jennifer Burnside. She claimed that Akron's perception of gangs was wrong, that "V-Not" and "Hilltopper" simply referred to one's neighborhood, not a criminal group.

Misty Rogers was more disingenuous, quickly falling into the default position of racism, claiming that police were willing to charge any black kid from the wrong neighborhood.

"She was talking all about how the system was Willie Lynch," Sandra says. "You want to talk about Willie Lynch? This has nothing to do with no racism. This is black-on-black crime, woman."

Sandra, like every mother in Manchester-Thornton, knew that the gangs were the real deal. And she understood the code they lived by. "My mom always says no snitching is for drugs," says Kenya Lester. "But for killing, there's no snitching. That's helping."

While prosecutors prepared for Davis, Burnside, and Travis' hearing, they encountered more roadblocks. Fearing a repeat of the Feaster trial, they asked Judge Teodosio to restrict the courtroom to family, clergy, and the media. But this time she said no. "There was no evidence that any threats were made to any witnesses," she wrote in her decision.

On June 29, the court swelled with V-Not members. "It was like a jungle in that courtroom," Sandra says. "They ran it, threatening people with gang signs. It was crazy. I'd never seen anything like it."

Only two witnesses willingly answered prosecutors' questions: Burnside and a cab driver who picked up some teens from The Cage after the shooting. "[Jennifer], she told her son to tell them everything," Sandra says. "And he did, because he listens to his mother."

Burnside said he was standing in the chaos of The Cage's parking lot when he saw two friends in a fight. He ran to help. That's when gunfire erupted. He looked over to see Feaster with his 9mm in the air.

Burnside and his friends ran for the Board of Education parking lot, just across the street. There, he saw four guys, including Davis, tuck their guns into their waistbands. "You can't say I don't bust," he heard Davis say. Then he saw them drive off. Still, Burnside never actually saw Davis fire his gun.

Among the less cooperative witnesses were two of Shawrica's friends. Both were there the night of the shooting. Both told the court they were testifying against their will.

Then came Feaster. Despite his cooperation agreement, he refused to answer questions. Three times he was asked to identify V-Not members. He simply rolled his eyes skyward, twisting in his seat with indifference.

The judge found him in contempt.

"He came in all cocky, saying he plead the fifth," Lester says. "And that was after he cried [during his sentencing], said he was sorry Shawrica died."

The following week, nine more witnesses took the stand, including Travis' girlfriend. Though she'd initially told police that she saw Travis shoot into the air, she now claimed he didn't have a gun that night. When asked why she changed her testimony, she asserted that police threatened to take away her baby when she was initially questioned.

It wasn't until the leaves turned red and gold that Teodosio finally made her decision. Burnside pleaded guilty to fighting and was placed on probation in exchange for his cooperation. Police weren't able to link him to V-Not.

Dominique Adams and DeMarco Deck, two other V-Nots who witnessed the shooting, pleaded guilty to being involved in gang activity and were also slapped with a year of probation. All three boys agreed to testify against remaining suspects.

Since Travis was now 18, Teodosio transferred his case to adult court. Davis, still 16, would remain in the juvenile system.

On October 22, Travis' trial got underway. But with no murder weapon and other witnesses refusing to talk or changing their stories, the case rested solely on Feaster.

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