Silvonus Shannon gets 32 years in Chicago honor student slaying

By: Camille Mann
Topics: Daily Blotter

Silvonus Shannon

/ The Chicago Police Department/AP Photo

(CBS/AP) CHICAGO - Silvonus Shannon was sentenced Thursday to 32 years in prison for taking part in the September 2009 beating death of high school honors student Derrion Albert, which was caught on video and posted online.

After more than an hour long hearing that included statements from the mother of Albert, Circuit Court Judge Nicholas Ford sentenced the 20-year-old Shannon.

Albert was 16 years old when he was attacked by a mob of people while walking on the street. Ford said he gave Shannon such a long prison term because he struck Albert when he was defenseless on the ground.

Shannon put his head in his hands and started crying when the judge announced the sentence. He asked Albert's family to forgive him, but Albert's mother, Anjanette, wouldn't accept it.

"There's no apology you could ever give to me that I would forgive you," she said.

Shannon was convicted in January. Two teens have also been convicted in Albert's death, and two other people still face charges in the attack, which drew widespread condemnation when video from the fight was posted online.

The attack on Albert marked the most vivid example of the violence that, in a six-month period in 2009, claimed the lives of more than 20 Chicago public school students. It also prompted President Barack Obama to dispatch two top Cabinet officials to Chicago to discuss ways to suppress the violence.

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by mountainstates1 March 25, 2011 10:57 AM EDT: What does it take to get a life sentence ? You evade your taxes and you get 70 yrs. in federal prison. You beat to death an innocent human being begging for his life and you get 32 years and eligibility for parole??????; Reply to this comment


by jackp32 March 25, 2011 6:57 AM EDT: Out in 10 to prey again.; Reply to this comment


by Nmmrng March 24, 2011 9:35 PM EDT: Why not the death penalty?; Reply to this comment


by bobnjersey March 24, 2011 9:15 PM EDT: [Silvonus Shannon was sentenced Thursday to 32 years in prison]
------------------------------------
buh buy silvonus.

i wonder if there's any correlation between stupid first names ... and stupid behavior?; Reply to this comment


by biscuit2boy March 24, 2011 6:34 PM EDT: This is absolutely ridiculous! His attorney and his family have asked for mercy and a reduced sentence. WHAT?! This guy mercilessly beat a young man to death! He should get the death penalty. There is no mercy for this as far as I am concerned.; Reply to this comment


by bradkt1 March 24, 2011 6:04 PM EDT: Parents put their hearts and souls into raising a child, the child does the right things that he is supposed to do, hits the books, becomes an honors student...

...and then is gone in an instant...murdered by this piece of garbage?

Sylvonous, I am glad that they are locking you up and throwing away the key. I hope that your pathetic thug life is over. It's just too bad that they can't put you to death the same way that you murdered a kid who was trying to turn out decent...while you were only trying to turn out to be a thug.; Reply to this comment


by illcountryboy March 24, 2011 5:47 PM EDT: It is also looked down on by the tea party; Reply to this comment


by UForgotPoland March 24, 2011 5:38 PM EDT: So is being intelligent looked down upon by the hip-hop culture and deserving of death or something? I'm sorry, but if black youth continue to celebrate violence and deviance their communities will continue to be places of misery and poverty for decades to come.; Reply to this comment