CHARLOTTE — Nearly six years after Andre Boyd was shot and killed at a north Charlotte apartment complex, his killer is being sent to prison.
Curtis Beatty was scheduled to go on trial for first-degree murder next month, but he took a last-minute plea deal on Friday.
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Only Channel 9’s Hunter Sáenz was in court as Beatty left in handcuffs to begin serving a prison sentence for voluntary manslaughter.
“He was just this brilliant young man, bright, had everyone in the room to smile at all times,” said Jamineka Davis, Boyd’s mother.
Davis says her son went by AJ, and he wanted to be a NASCAR driver.
But those dreams were cut short in July 2020. AJ went to an apartment complex off of Nevin Road, and a meeting in the parking lot escalated.
AJ was shot seven times.
“To have his life taken so abruptly, it still is a nightmare,” Davis said.
Beatty’s defense attorney argued that he shot in self-defense. Prosecutors acknowledged the case would have its holes if it went to trial.
“I feel like the justice system still failed me, however, the judge that we had today - I do feel like she sympathized with me,” Davis said.
That judge, Hon. Carla Archie, spoke sternly to Beatty before sentencing him to prison.
“You have a debt to pay, and no amount of time that I sentence you to is going to pay that debt,” said Chief Superior Court Judge Carla Archie.
Archie told Beatty that debt is paid by what he gives back to this community when he gets out of prison.
As part of the plea deal, he will serve between 7.5 to 10 years in prison.
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