CRIME SPECIAL
MAIN PHOTO: GETTY, POSED BY MODELassault rather than manslaughter.
While he didn’t intend to kill his sister, he
had intentionally placed her in a chokehold,
which was an assault that resulted in her
death. The family wept when Watkins was
sentenced to life in prison without a chance
of parole.
Judge Colvin said the decision was “the
most difficult thing I’ve had to do”.
She had reviewed her notes and thought
hard about the verdict. “In this household,
the ability to ignore and follow corrective
discipline was empowered.”
Judge Colvin spoke to Watkins and said
how sorry she was that he wasn’t given the
right tools to deal with his anger and the
chaos in his home.
“I apologise to you that no intervention
was made before it got to this point,” she
said. But added Watkins had to be punished.
“I don’t see this as an accident,” she said.
Watkins was crying as he was placed
in handcuffs.
“I’m sorry,” he sobbed hysterically.
“I think everyone understands,” Judge
Colvin said to the broken teenager. “Including
this court.”
GAIL SHORTLANDthen decides Watkins’ fate over
a two-day hearing.
Judge Verda M Colvin was tasked
with the difficult case.
Latoya testified. She said Watkins had
stormed into her bedroom. “My daughter ran
in, she grabbed him... He acted like he was
going to hit me,” Latoya said, describing how
the siblings had started to fight. “I was trying
to pull them apart,” she added.STARVED OF OXYGEN
The deputy recalled arriving seven to 10
minutes after the 911 calls, to find Watkins
still holding Alexus around the neck.
A medical expert said the human brain can
tolerate three to six minutes without oxygen
before permanent damage begins. After 10
minutes, the person is most likely brain dead.
“Even under the best estimation, by the
time he got there, it had been at least 11
minutes that the defendant had to have been
choking his sister,” the judge said.
Watkins testified as well. “I never intended
to kill her at all,” he sobbed. When asked
why he hadn’t let his sister go, he replied,
“Because she was going to beat me.”
After two emotional days, the judge found
Watkins guilty of felony murder and aggravatedmotionless. Latoya started screaming
hysterically and the officer began performing
CPR to try to resuscitate Alexus.
She was rushed to hospital but was
declared dead in the early hours of
the following morning. She had died
from asphyxiation.
Watkins couldn’t explain why he hadn’t
released his sister – but when he was told
Alexus was dead, he broke down.
The teenager was charged and booked
into a youth detention centre. It was an
unthinkable tragedy.
Watkins was 18 in August 2019, when
he faced what he had done. He had agreed
with his lawyer that he would waive his right
to a jury trial and instead chose to have
a bench trial – where a judge hears the
testimony, reviews all the evidence and
‘He’s just
crazy... He
put her in a
chokehold’
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truelife@
reachplc.comWatkins was
sentenced to
life in prison