Man sentenced to life for murder of Maury student athlete

NORFOLK

Charles Humphrey led the Maury High School football and basketball teams as a senior. If he were alive today, he might be doing the same at a North Carolina college.

Humphrey was killed by another teen in a drive-by shooting in January 2009, months before he could graduate. On Friday, Tarek Z. Cherry, who fired the fatal blast, was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder and weapons violations.

"This is a heinous, senseless crime that took the life of an innocent bystander," Circuit Judge Louis Sherman told the courtroom.

Sherman also gave Cherry 10 additional years for three weapons convictions.

Cherry, now 20, fired a shotgun from a car near the intersection of 34th Street and Colonial Avenue after an early morning teen party in Park Place. Humphrey, 18, was struck in the head as he and others tried to flee, according to court testimony.

Police arrested Cherry, then 17, shortly after the shooting, but prosecutors dropped murder charges and released him because of a lack of evidence.

A month after being freed, Cherry robbed a man at gunpoint for a video game. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for robbery and weapons violations in that case. Witnesses in the killing of Humphrey came forward after Cherry was convicted for the robbery.

In November, a jury found Cherry guilty of first-degree murder and weapons violations in Humphrey's death.

Defense attorney B. Thomas Reed argued Friday that the minimum, mandatory sentence for the crimes would keep Cherry in prison until he was well into his 60s.

Prosecutor Lyn Simmons told the court that Cherry deserved nothing less than life for the crime. "Why are we here today?" she asked. "It's crazy. It just doesn't make any sense."

Linda Humphrey remembered her youngest child, "Lil' Charles," as the one who constantly held and dribbled a basketball, even at 5 years old. He matured in high school, she said, and focused on going to college, hoping one day to play professional football.

Humphrey was an All-Eastern District First Team running back for the Commodores and co-captain of the varsity basketball team. Maury High School granted Humphrey a diploma after his death.

His father, Charles Carpenter, said he didn't follow professional sports but attended every one of his son's games. "Some part of us died when he died," Carpenter said.

Family members said they were pleased the judge levied a life sentence.

Cornel Parker, Humphrey's former coach in football and basketball, said Humphrey had been accepted to St. Augustine's College in North Carolina to play football. Not a gifted student, Humphrey worked hard to improve his grades, he said. On the field and on the court, he was driven and hard-nosed, Parker said.

His sudden death shook his teammates and the school community, said Parker, also a counselor at Maury. The basketball team retired his No. 24 uniform for the past two years.

"He had a wonderful smile," Parker said, and was "a great, great young kid."

Maury students still talk about Humphrey, Parker said. One promising basketball player with a few discipline problems asked his coach if he could wear No. 24 this year.

Parker gave him the jersey, he said, but only after making him promise he would live up to Humphrey's standards.

Louis Hansen, (757) 446-2341, louis.hansen@pilotonline.com