NORFOLK
In a tense, emotional day in court, Dawn Weiss faced two of the teens who attacked her and her children at a home in May.
The robbers shot Weiss five times, leaving her paralyzed from the chest down. Her daughters, Kayla and Destyni, now 10 and 6, were with her when she was shot, but they were not harmed. Weiss’ husband, Army Sgt. 1st Class Mike Weiss, was deployed in Kuwait at the time.
Friday brought the sentencing hearings for two of the four teens charged. 18-year-old Michael Moore Jr., one of those accused of pulling the trigger, was sentenced to life plus 123 years in prison.
It was similar to the sentence received Thursday by his cousin, 16-year-old Keyanta Moore, who also shot Weiss. He was ordered to serve life plus 173 years.
The day’s second hearing was for 18-year-old Vicktor Stine-Cunningham, who participated in the robbery and abduction but was not accused of shooting Weiss. Judge Everett A. Martin ordered him to serve 20 years of a 73-year sentence.
The last defendant, Randell Barkley Jr., is scheduled to be sentenced Monday.
Michael Moore Jr.’s guardian, a great-aunt, was ejected from the courthouse Friday after a confrontation with some of Weiss’ friends . The woman had previously been admonished by a deputy for speaking out in court.
Weiss, 31, passed out in midsentence during her testimony . Extreme drops in blood pressure are a side effect of her paralysis. Judge Jerome James Jr. called a recess to give Weiss’ husband, Mike, timeto assist her, and she continued her testimony .
She told James about yelling at the four robbers when they tried to make her leave her daughters to get money from a bank. The robbers told her she shouldn’t argue, that they had the guns.
“I said my kids are coming with me, I don’t care what you say or what you do to me,” Weiss testified.
One of Moore’s lawyers, Tonya Lomax, asked James to consider Moore a victim. She said his mother used drugs, and he never knew his father. She pointed to his guardian’s behavior in court as an example of his lack of role models. James interrupted her.
“I have a hard time to mention the word victim in reference to your client,” he said.
In Stine-Cunningham’s hearing, friends testified that the Vicktor they knew loved his mother and sister, excelled at basketball and had dreams of joining the Air Force.
Susan Johnson, Stine-Cunningham’s mother, addressed Weiss from the witness stand. Johnson lives about a block from where the shooting happened. “I look out Vicktor’s window and I can see where your car was,” Johnson said.
She choked on tears as she told the Weisses that her son had been headed toward trouble, despite her efforts to avert it. She sent him to counseling when she found out he was using marijuana. She called the police when Stine-Cunningham used a car she had bought him for his birthday without permission, leading to charges that put him in juvenile detention. The night of the shooting, she said, Stine-Cunningham came home screaming that he had been robbed and that someone had been shot.
Prosecutor Jim Entas pointed out that Johnson told police her son reeked of marijuana and was dressed in black clothes that didn’t belong to him.
“He walked out of that house and made a choice I can’t defend,” she said. “I did not raise a ruthless son. He made a choice that was horrible, and that this family will have to live with for the rest of their life.”
Judge Martin struggled in framing a sentence. He asked Entas repeatedly whether Stine-Cunningham deserved as much time as Michael Moore Jr. and Keyanta Moore had received.
No, Entas said.
“There’s no just punishment in this case,” Martin said, looking at Dawn Weiss. “I wish I could give you his arms and his legs.”
Michelle Washington, (757) 446-2287, michelle.washington@pilotonline.com
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Words can never express our appreciation! Thank you so much!
Hello Melissa and Family, it was nice to talk to you on the phone. Thank you for calling and taking the time to listen. I sent Vicktor your comments and talked to him about our conversation. He remembers you well and was very surprised. He says thank you so much for the support and thinking about him. He would like to hear from you he said. Again thank you for all the love and support. Take Care. If you want his address just give me a call. Thank you again and tell your family hello.
Thanks for sending my
Thanks for sending my comment to Vicktor. I would love to write to him myself. I hope that he remembers me. I remember a nice, polite, very loved young man and I would say that he has those same qualities, just got mixed up with the wrong crowd. Seems like yesterday we were all together doing family things. We live in the same town as my parents, if that helps. Please relay to Vicktor that we love him and pray for him. We pray for you as well. I can't imagine what you are going through. LOVE YOU
Thank you Melissa and Family
I don't even know what to say Melissa. I printed your comment and sent it to Vicktor. We are very thankful for your love and support. I would love to talk to you. I really don't know how to contact you. I know the city your family lives in but don't know for sure about you. I don't want to put my information on the web.
So you know Vicktor is doing well and keeping positive. He is so loved and support by his friends and family through all of this. Words will never express what has happened and happening in our lives. I am thankful each day for everyone's love and support. We keep moving forward together the best we know how.
I look forward to hearing from you soon. Hello to family and Chris. Again thank you so much Melissa. WOW!
My name is Melissa and I am
My name is Melissa and I am an old friend of Vicktor's family. Vicktor's mother and I were best friends when Vicktor was little. I used to watch him and cared for him like he was my own child. To this day, i still have feelings for Vicktor. He was a sweet young child and I don't know what went wrong. It hurts me to my heart to see him involved in such a senseless crime. I live in TN and I found out about his involvement when my husband who is active duty in Norfolk brings home the Pilot on the weekends. Knowing the family as I do, there's not excuse for his involvement, but I do know that he was loved, he must have just got involved with the wrong crowd. I hope that his family reads this and tries to contact me. To Vicktor, I love you as if you were my own child, and to the Weiss family, I am very sorry for your tragedy, I pray for you and your family. I will continue to follow your story.
Uncondiotal Love For A Child
Vicktor is so loved and will always be supported by his family and friends. You can not take that from him. We are quick to judge but don't want to be judged. Vicktor is no angel of yours but he is and angel of gods. You can't take that from him. He has goals and dreams that will come true with the love and support of his family. You can share your opinions and express your ugly words but at the end of the day you have to say what was your part of this. Don't shame what you don't know. Lift your hands high and give to others. Be the first to say to someone that I love you and will no matter what. Kind words will carry you through life but negativity will destroy you. Always place yourself in others shoes to see if you want to be apart of them. We love you Vicktor.... Be strong and keep your head high. Pray eachday, believe and trust in yourself. You are so loved and we are here for you. I leave you with this life is to short not to live it. Live your life to the fullest...
Uncondiotal Love For A Child
continues from last blog:
Vicktor did not come from the streets. His mother is educated and with a job that educates your children. They do not live in a bad neighborhood. Vicktor had opportunties that all young men had. He has traveled the world and experienced things we don't do in a life time. To say that he is worthless and where are his parents. Vicktor is loved, educated, and a very strong man. I do not repeat do not defend what this young man has done. I support human life and all involved. We thrive on negative things. We refuse to see any good in man kind regardless of situation. We need to open our eyes and seek the truth instead of being followers. Did you know the media stated Vicktor was a gang memeber? Fact: Vicktor was and has not been charged with any gang activity. He has not been apart of any gang or did he participate in any activities. Vicktor spoke to the Weiss family and expressed his feeling and thoughts to them. Media stated nothing about that. They stated that he was uneducated, parents raised a animal and that we all should be locked up. Fact: He is educated, parents are educated and they are not animals. WOW. you don't want to hear that. Vicktor is so
Uncondiotal Love For A Child
I want to express my deepest thoughts, and prayers to the victim and her family. I am in a very tuff situation with this horrible situation. Words will never be able to express the two nightmares that have occured in this tragic situation. I have had first hand in listening to the victim, her family and the young men convicted of theses unthinkable crimes. I have listened to the media, read the paper, and heard from each person involved in this again unthinkable crime.
I have a few comments of my own to express to all that have an opinion in this situation. Until you sit in a court room as a victim or as the one who comitted the crime, you really need to be mindful of your words. With the deepest sympathy that I can express to the Weiss family. People talk without knowing or even trying to understand human lives are involved. I do not repeat I do not defend what these yound men did to this mother and her children. I am a mother with children and live each day praying for the victim and for the young men involved. Words can not give back anything that has been done.
I know a few facts that have not been expressed about Vicktor Stine. He did not come from the streets.He had n
Comments of KV66034
KV66034, you hit the nail squarely on the head. Well stated.
nothing to do with race
sorry beu,can't play the race card on everything.4 purple pokka dotted pink hair teenagers deliberately barging in w/intent to commit a crime on innocent,green-colored blue haired mom w/2young kids, then shoot unarmed,defenseless mom multiple times by 2 gunmen at close range,(intent to kill&leave for dead) while she protects her 2kids is not a black vs white issue. Teacher? we all have good and bad in us,unfortunately that honor roll isn't going to help randall much in prison.He should have thought about that before he decided to go commit crime.The library to study would've been a better choice? just say no?
Why Am I Paying For These "Things" to live?
Let me see if I understand this correctly.
4 inhuman, uncontrolled, unrestrained, uneducated, sub-humans shoot a Mother of 2 girls in front of the two girls, not once, twice, thrice, but five times and I end up stuck paying the taxes for these animals to live in cage? We knew that many of Michael Vick's dogs were beyond saving, I think its safe to assume that the same is true here.
Thank goodness for this judge!!!!
I am so glad to hear that the judges involved in sentencing these young men are not taking it easy on their sentencing. If anyone has read the entire story, you would see that she was told to go with these guys and that the older sister was cradling her little sister telling her it would be okay. And when they got out to the car and the shooting began as she was trying to get away, she threw herself over her children to protect them while bullets were steadily shot into her body, both of her daughters getting covered in her blood but not shot.....Can you imagine??? This was not some split second decision these guys made, but rather the steady torture of this woman and her two girls for over a half hour, which only ended because they made it out of the house. So I feel NO sympathy for these boys no matter how many family friends or teachers come forward to say what nice boys they are. That night...they were absolutely cold-blooded. And they proved that they had no intention of letting this woman and her children leave the scene alive. People who have it in their hearts to carry out this kind of crime are not truly sorry for what they did, just sorry they got caught. They mig
I'm for Biblical justice.
If only we could punish by "An eye for an eye" legal system. That would be fair punishment in my mind. There would be these punks sitting in their cell paralized from the chest down for the rest of their lives counting on their cell mate to bathe, dress, feed and wipe their.....! However there are you out there that would consider this cruel and unusual punishment. So if we can't dish out equal punishment the next best thing in my mind is eliminate these worthless pieces of dung from this world. Capital punishment is what these animals deserve. (The ones that pulled the trigger for sure). The rest of the sheep belong in "the pen" for a long, long, time. I for one want to thank this judge for the sentence he passed down. I only hope it stands through all the appeals that will follow.
I cant not believe them
I cant not believe them boys..One of them I know but I didnt think he would stoop so low like that..I mean it hurts to hear he got life because alot of his and my friends really cared about him but he got what he deserved..I usually say what goes around comes around..Thats what happened..But I can only feel the pain that the Weiss family have to go through..
Im just speechless!!
A few less punks on the street!
...but what about the parents or guardians of these kids? They should be held accountable for the actions of their minor children too.
Michael Moore Jr.’s guardian, the great-aunt who was ejected for bickering with friends of the Weiss’ family: shame on you for making a public spectacle of a court appearance.
These punk deserved every day the were sentenced to sit in jail for. Justice did us a favor by getting them off the street!
I teach these "Thugs"
I am Randell's teacher and coach. Let me start of by saying I do not support Randell's choices to go along with the events that night but I do support him as a person. Ask every teacher in the building and they will tell you Randell is a good kid. Not, he "was" a good kid. I refuse to believe that his actions that night defines what he is. I refuse to write him off as another black male; another thug. As a teacher, I see it so many times. It doesn't how bad or good the parenting is, the level of academic success or struggles, how popular or outcasted a child may be. It all depends on who your child rubs elbows with. Scary truth. Randell is a good kid with all the potential in the world. I have hopes he will one day graduate college with a track scholarship. He is not a thug or an animal. He is a child. I child that made a very horrible, life altering decision that has impacted many lives and this community. I know Randell. I refuse to support that we just give up on a child. I know its very hard to see what I see in Randell. But I've seen goodness, we've all seen his goodness at his school, teacher and students. Randell was my track captain, Randell made honor roll, Randell and I t
We can not blame these kids
We can not blame these kids parents. A person is going to what they want to do regards of how they were or were no raised. It is their own judgment to do wrong or right. I just hope those kids that killed the 15 year old young man earlier this month have the same judge and get the same amount of time for actually killing this kid. But you know they probably will not because the kid was black and the young woman was white. It is a shame at how crimes are looked at differently when it comes to race.
Cage the animals
Ms. Lomax, you are a moron. You actually expect anyone to feel sorry for these animals? The Judge did the right thing by ignoring your idiotic logic. The only thing I regret is that my tax dollars will go to feed this scum. That's his parents' job and they should have to foot the bill, not me.
We need more judges like this!
Can you imagine the deterent this is to crime? At last a judge and prossecutor that are not soft on crime. We all should hope that these sentences make it through the endless appeals that the thugs have. Ms Weiss had no appeals when her and her family's lives were ruined by this group of worthless thugs. Maybe we'll luck out and the thugs will show some responsibility and not appeal.
I strongly believe it is the parents' job to raise children
properly, but there comes a time when a person just knows something is wrong. This young man is not a victim of anything except his own choices. I guarantee you if he hadn't been caught, he would still be committing the same sorts of crimes.
People know it's illegal to do drugs, that it's wrong to steal, and I don't know anyone who actually had to be taught that murder is wrong.
The only victims are this sweet lady who cared more for her own children than herself and her loved ones.
Shame on these lawyers who defend these scumbags! They should be ashamed of themselves.
Defense
Reading the comments concerning thie crime that was made by the defense attorneys were shameful. To try and establish a defense making the hoohlums the victims was a shameful ploy. Dawn and her family were the victims, plain and simple. Most of the comments made were in respect to the real victims, and that being the weiss family. Juctice will prevail for this family but will never give back to them what they have lost.Dawn will live with this tragedy every day for the rest of her life.To be back in virginia and face these criminals again displays real courage on h r part