Sad, alone and angry.
That’s how Maryland mother Ondraya Graves says she felt after she learned the man accused of killing her daughter was being offered a plea deal.
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WATCH HERE“I actually was at work when they called and so my heart dropped and was very sad… it just made me feel alone…” Graves said. “Essentially he would get away with murder…”
Back in November, her daughter, Olivia Graves, was gunned down on Atlantic Avenue Southeast.
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SIGN UP Family members say the 24-year-old had gotten a ride from friends to pick her nephew up from school. They decided to stop on their way home and found themselves in the middle of a deadly dispute.
“Really just trying to protect her nephew and she took the bullet for him…” Graves said. “She was a protector. She sacrificed, and she made sure that if there was a need, she was the one who was trying to. She’s a problem solver, so she would try to do whatever she needed to do, even if it meant she sacrificed something of herself.”
Days after the fatal shooting, Maurice Jackson was arrested for second degree murder, but last Friday he accepted a plea for voluntary manslaughter.
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“The possibility of an early release, that is very scary to me. I believe that he has demonstrated throughout his life that he is a threat to the community…” Graves said. “Whatever the full extent of the law is for punishment for second degree murder, is what, that’s the only thing that would be satisfying.”
Graves says now she worries their family won't get justice.
Her grandson, who was 12 at the time and witnessed the shooting, is still struggling.
“Daily trauma, you know, he doesn't even sleep alone anymore,” she said.
Graves says she is grateful for the support and communication from the U.S. Attorney’s Office — she just wants to make sure her daughter’s accused killer gets the appropriate punishment.
Jackson’s sentencing is scheduled for July. As she waits to learn his fate, she has this message for other families who lost loved ones and are navigating the justice system:
“Stay involved, get involved, let your voice be heard and speak, be that voice for… your friend or family who is a victim in D.C.”
