An Atlantic City man convicted in deadly shooting at a high school football game was sentenced to 70 years in prison Monday.
Alvin Wyatt, 35, was convicted during trial in July of murdering 10-year-old Micah Tennant, who was shot in the neck as he watched Pleasantville High School host Camden in a playoff game Nov. 15, 2019.
The little boy known as "Dew," who aspired to be a DJ, died days later without regaining consciousness.
He would have turned 14 this past Saturday.
"I forgive you and your family," Micah's mother, Angela Tennant, told Wyatt. "Not for you but for myself. So that my grief process will not be hard."
Her son's murder showed her a new purpose, she said.
"Your senseless act of violence that took a bright, intelligent, passionate, talented, loving and caring 10-year-old boy — my son, Micah — sparked a passion in me to help as many black and brown boys and young men in my community to not grow up so bitter and angry (but) to feel loved and heard," Tennant said. "It sparked a passion in me to help mothers get a better hold on their boys, and to be better mothers so this doesn’t happen again in our communities."
"I do not hate you or your mother, but I also forgive her for not getting you the proper help you needed as a child or teen," Tennant told Wyatt in court.
"I'm sorry, I never wanted to put you all through this," Wyatt said as he turned to face Tennant and her family before his sentencing.
"I was just going through a situation in my life that nobody knew what was going on," he said. "I messed up. I didn’t wake up saying I want to go hurt your son."
He talked about his own PTSD from growing up around gunfire.
My life come from gunfire. I grew up around this stuff my whole life. You all don’t think I suffer from PTSD? I don’t know what you all think.
"I've seen stuff," he said. "I've seen stuff that I never should have seen at a young age. This stuff affects me every day. I've got to wake up every day with this stuff on mind and my heart."
People tell him he's "a kid killer," he said.
He talked of his own sons, ages 8 and 12.
"How can it explain this to my sons?" he asked. "How can I explain this to them? That your all dad in jail for the rest of his life for a mistake."
Wyatt said he failed his community in his actions that night, but that he wasn't the only one.
There were a total of five guns found at the football game, including one on victim Abdullah. Wyatt claimed only his gun was tested.
"Five guns at a high school football game?" he asked. "It’s not the first time stuff like that happened."
The state asked for an extended term, calling for 100 years in the case.
Chief Assistant Prosecutor Seth Levy told the judge that, while they cannot ban all guns, a large sentence would help deter the next person who would bring a gun to a public place and shoot into a crowd of innocent people.
When Wyatt addressed the court, he repeated the term "100 years" several times in disbelieve.
"That's not even a real number," he said in terms of a sentence.
"I came here for a mistake, and you're all try to take my life from me," he said. "I don’t get this back. I can’t start over, press reset and get my life back, it’s over.
"Once I walk out this door when you sentence me, it’s over," he said. "It’s over."
Cody Griggs, the teen wounded in the gunfire, was also in court with his mother. Abdullah, who gave little information when he testified from a wheelchair at trial, did not come to court.
Wyatt got 45 years for murder, with consecutive sentences for attempted murder of 10 years for Griggs and 15 years for Abdullah.
They were all consecutive terms.
He received another consecutive five years for the weapons offense, with the reset concurrent.
Wyatt must serve at least 59½ years under the No Early Release act. He has credit for the approximately three years and 10 months he already has been in jail.
