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Chattanooga: Man gets 10 years for role in shooting

By: Adam Crisp
(Contact)

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Quanan Hutchinson
Quanan Hutchinson
Valerie Southers

The man who said he destroyed his life by joining a gang was sentenced Monday to 10 years in state prison for his role in a 2006 gang retaliation killing.

Quanan Hutchinson, 22, pleaded guilty to facilitation of second-degree murder in April for his role in a shooting that killed Jermaine Southers.

Mr. Hutchinson said from the start that he never fired directly at Mr. Southers, and ballistic testing proved that his gun did not fire the shots that killed the victim.

His guilty plea was part of a deal in which Mr. Hutchinson would not be charged with first-degree murder if he agreed to testify against two friends whose gunfire, according to police, actually hit Mr. Southers.

Executive Assistant District Attorney Neal Pinkston said the cases against the two friends, Norman Ricks and LaBrandit Williams, are ongoing. Both men are charged with first-degree murder, and their next court date is Nov. 24, court records show.

Already, Mr. Hutchinson has served two years in county custody, and he could be eligible for a parole hearing as early as this spring, his defense attorney said.

“They only require you to serve 30 percent before you go before the parole board,” said Robin Flores, Mr. Hutchinson’s lawyer. “It’s up to the parole board what happens then. They could make him serve every day of his sentence.”

The sentence didn’t sit well with the family of Mr. Southers. The victim’s stepmother, Valerie Southers, would only say that she was “very disappointed” with the sentence.

On the stand, however, she had harsher words for Mr. Hutchinson.

“Why do you young black men waste your lives going around killing each other?” Mrs. Southers asked. “So now he’s in a grave. You’re in a jail cell. Has anything been solved?

“There’s always other jail cells. There’s always more graves. So can you tell me why my child is dead?”

In court Monday, Mr. Hutchinson tried to address the mourning Southers family.

“I realize there is not enough words that I can write and not enough things that I can do and not nearly enough sympathies that I can offer that will bring Jermaine back,” said Mr. Hutchinson, dressed in beige jail jumpsuit, hands cuffed, legs shackled and minus the dread-locked hair he had at the time of his arrest.

Mr. Hutchinson showed Criminal Court Judge Don Poole how he had blotted out the gang tattoos all over his body, even turning one into a heart that bears his mother’s name.

“I am here today pleading you for forgiveness, even though I know that may be impossible,” he said.

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