A grieving mother is upset that prosecutors are considering reducing charges against several teens accused in the stabbing death of her son at the Woodley Park Metro Station. She spoke to News 4’s Chris Gordon about why she feels the change would be wrong.
The mother of a Montgomery County man says prosecutors need to make sure her son's attackers spend a substantial amount of time behind bars.
Seven teens were charged in the stabbing death of 18-year-old Olijawon Griffin at the Woodley Park Metro stop last November.
The group of teens allegedly attacked him after stealing his jacket and iPhone in Adams Morgan that same evening.
The six teens are: Chavez Myers, 17, of District Heights; Muquan Cawthorne, 16, of Mount Rainier; Isaiah Gant, 16, of Hyattsville; Gary Maye, 17, of Hyattsville; Deon Jefferson, 17, of Landover; and Immanuel Swann, 17, of Brentwood. Greg Whitaker, 19, of Hyattsville, Md. was the latest to be charged.
Lunette Griffin said prosecutors told her they are considering reducing the charges against those teens.
"That's a person's life that they took and that was my baby," Griffin said. "I cried and I cried and explained to them that it's unfair."
Myers is facing first degree murder charges. His trial starts in September.
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"Everybody else would get manslaughter, which holds seven-and-a-half years to 15 years," Griffin said. "Seven-and-a-half years for someone's life... I think that's unfair."
The attack was captured by a security camera at Woodley Park Metro. However, police are not releasing the footage.
Griffin has seen the tape and says it shows her son surrounded by his attackers.
"Two on his right, one on his left. You saw Chavez walk around and crunch down, pull a mask over his face, and as my son tried to see his surroundings to look to the side, that's when Chavez stabbed him in the chest."
She says her son's last words to a witness were, "Tell my mother I love her."
"You cry so much and there's days you try to keep yourself together," she said.
Upon his arrest, Myers admitted to the attack, but said he stabbed Griffin in self-defense.
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