Fifty-three-year-old Philander Hampton
Philander Hampton could be released from jail in a matter of months because of his parole eligibility and jail time served
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Suspect in 1978 slaying of 5 Newark teens gets a 10-year prison sentence in plea deal
- Published: Oct. 03, 2011, 9:00 p.m.
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Jerry McCrea/The Star-LedgerPhilander Hampton, 54 (center) was sentenced in Superior Court today in Newark for his role in the 1978 killings of five boys in Newark. He is seen with his attorneys, Joseph Krakora (left) and John McMahon.
NEWARK — Terry Lawson remembers the night her big brother, Michael McDowell, vanished from a Newark street. And she remembers her mother's despair.
Janet Lawson didn’t have a driver’s license, so when her 16-year-old son went missing on Aug. 20, 1978, relatives began shuttling her around the city every day, searching for the boy.
With the car windows rolled down, Janet Lawson would call out: "‘Michael! Michael!,’" Terry Lawson said today in court.
Janet Lawson died long before anyone found out what happened to her son, who disappeared with four friends that night. The boys were officially classified as missing until March 2010, when authorities charged two cousins with their murder.
Today, standing in for her mother, Terry Lawson was in court to see one of the defendants, Philander Hampton, get sentenced to 10 years in prison for his part in the killing.
"The pain, anguish and helplessness she was forced to endure are indescribable," Lawson said of her mother, who died of leukemia in 1979, but never gave up hope that Michael would walk back through the door and give her a hug.
Hampton, 54, who admitted to five counts of felony murder, will testify against his cousin, Lee Anthony Evans, at his murder trial later this month. In exchange for the plea, Hampton received a reduced prison term, which under guidelines from the time of the killing make him eligible for parole in February.
The alleged mastermind of the killing, Evans, 58, stands charged with five counts of murder and intends to represent himself at trial. Authorities say the cousins lured the teenagers into an abandoned house that night 33 years ago, then locked them inside. A third cousin, who is also believed to be involved, has since died.
Evans is accused of pouring gasoline throughout the house then setting it on fire.
The bodies of McDowell, Randy Johnson and Alvin Turner, all 16; and Melvin Pittman and Ernest Taylor, both 17, were never found.
Clad in a tan prison jumper, Hampton entered the Newark courtroom in handcuffs, his back hunched and looking frail. Flanked by his two attorneys, Hampton remained silent and gave no reaction as Superior Court Judge Patricia Costello imposed sentence. Hampton, who has been incarcerated since his arrest for murder, will begin serving his prison term immediately.
Evans, who is free on bail, was not in court today but has loudly maintained his innocence, accusing Essex County officials of corruption in their effort to prosecute him. Last month, Evans turned down a similar plea deal to the one Hampton received, though prosecutors later said the offer merely represented a start to negotiations.
In a phone interview after sentencing, Evans called Hampton’s plea deal "an insult to the families. If, hypothetically, someone would do something like that, how are you going to let somebody out in two years?" he said. "That means Michael Vick went to jail for two years for a dog," referring to the N.F.L. quarterback who pleaded guilty for his role in a dogfighting ring in 2007.
In fact, the half-dozen victims’ relatives who sat through today’s sentencing expressed anger at what they view a lenient sentence. But they have their sights set on Evans — Terry Lawson has called him the "big fish" — who prosecutors contend orchestrated the killing as payback for the boys having stolen a pound of marijuana.
Authorities have built their case against Evans largely on Hampton’s November 2008 confession to police, which also implicated his older cousin in the killing. In her own remarks, Costello noted how Hampton’s confession has given authorities "the only evidence they have."
While no physical piece of evidence has tied either cousin to the crime, prosecutors contend witnesses will testify to seeing Evans, a carpenter at the time of the killing, drive the boys in his truck that night, after promising them work moving boxes. They were never seen again.
Evans may be the alleged brains behind the killing, but Hampton’s sentence did not sit well with one victim’s relative. Booker Murray, whose brother was Melvin Pittman, told the court, "you’re talking about the murder of five boys. It’s just not reasonable."
Terry Lawson, meanwhile, could barely contain her rage. Reading from a prepared statement, but addressing Hampton directly, she said at one point, "May your soul never experience a day’s rest or peace, and when you die, I pray you go straight to hell where you belong."
But in asking the judge to impose a 10-year term, lead prosecutor Peter Guarino said Hampton had been influenced "by a much older and much more dominant individual." Hampton, who will remain bound by the terms of the plea deal when he testifies at trial, "has nowhere to go but forward," Guarino said. "Today begins the freest period of Mr. Hampton’s life that he has had in 30 years. He has freed himself of Lee Evans."
In the three decades following the killing, Hampton had a string of arrests and convictions for robbery, theft, public drinking, drug possession and shoplifting, Costello said in reviewing his case file. He had a "long-term heroin addiction," which he kicked, she said, earned a high school equivalency in prison and has fathered two children, whom he does not see. Costello, who will preside over Evans’ trial, said the fact that the killing involved "five children was especially depraved."
But for Terry Lawson, now 45, the pain of Michael’s memory will endure.
"Thirty-three years ago I was a child who watched her big brother disappear into the night," she said. "Today, I stand here a woman, a mother myself. I can’t imagine not knowing what happened to one of my children. I can’t imagine the pain my mother endured not knowing what happened to her only son."
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
•
In plea offer, prosecution offers suspect in 1978 Newark slayings a 10-year prison sentence
•
Man charged with killing five Newark teens in 1978 can remain free on bail, judge rules
• One of two men charged with killing 5 Newark boys in 1978 turns down plea deal
•
Essex County Prosecutor's Office seeks to revoke bail for man accused in decades-old slaying of 5 Newark teens
•
Judge rules Lee Anthony Evans can serve as his own attorney in trial of '78 Newark killings
