GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Jamarion Lawhorn was found guilty Friday of first-degree murder in the killing of Connor Verkerke on a Kentwood playground.
Lawhorn, 13, was charged as an adult with stabbing the 9-year-old last August. He is the youngest convicted murderer in Kent County history.
"It's my son. He's a baby. He's charged as an adult but ya know at the end of the day he was still born March 14th, 2002. He's still a kid," Anita Lawhorn, Jamarion's mother, said. "I understand the severity of the case, but he's not an adult and I know he has to be punished for his actions and I do not believe he should get an adult sentence."
The jury delivered their verdict following three days of testimony.
Prosecutors have presented their case that Lawhorn planned on killing someone for a long time. The defense said that Lawhorn killed to get out of a home that included abuse and neglect on the part of his parents.
Lawhorn will be sentenced at a later date.
Connor Verkerke, 9.
