CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A man accused of killing a high school student over $40 was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Dionte Hunter, a teenager who attended Garinger High School, was shot and killed when he met Steven Black for a drug deal off McMullen Way in southeast Charlotte in July 2017.
Hunter’s mother said the sentence isn’t long enough.
Black walked into a courtroom filled with deputies and Hunter’s family members on Thursday.
He admitted killing Hunter, who played basketball at Garinger.
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Black, who was 20 at the time of the killing, pleaded guilty and faced Hunter’s family.
“All for what? Forty dollars? You took my son's life away for 40 damn dollars,” said Autumn Conley, Hunter’s mother.
(Dionte Hunter)
Conley fought back tears, and his aunt told Black he has no clue who the real Dionte was or how much it hurt to lose him.
“That night you took a piece of our souls away,” Ikeshia Taylor, Hunter’s aunt, said. “You made it so our days will never shine as bright, and you put a hole in our heart that will never heal.”
(Steven Black)
Black’s family members were sitting behind him in the courtroom.
They didn’t address the judge, but defense attorney Dean Loven said Black has taken responsibility for the shooting from the beginning.
“They have a young man who is now doing many years in prison,” Loven said. “This is a very hard thing for them to deal with as well.”
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