DeKalb County student gets life sentence in killing

[Malificynt]

DeKalb student gets life sentence in killing

By Ceila Sibley and Steve Visser,
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, April 26, 1998
Atlanta, Georgia

Lyndon Deshard Mosley, 15, lost his bet Friday that a DeKalb County jury would
believe the fatal stabbing of another teenager was justified when he refused to
plead guilty to manslaughter in exchange for a 15-year sentence earlier this
week.

The jury late Friday convicted Mosley of felony murder, voluntary manslaughter
and carrying a weapon on school property in the slaying of 16-year-old Ronald
Gaines during a fight outside Southwest DeKalb High School last September. He
faces a mandatory life sentence.

"It sends a message that needed to be sent: Carrying weapons on school property
will not be tolerated," DeKalb District Attorney J. Tom Morgan said after the
verdict. "And everybody will be accountable and held responsible for their
actions whether they are 15 or 50."

Prosecutors said Mosley and his family, who supported his decision not to
accept the plea bargain Monday, reacted in silence to the verdict.

Defense lawyer Bruce Harvey argued to jurors that Mosley, a small ninth-grader,
felt intimidated and threatened by the larger Gaines during a confrontation
near a school athletic field.

Taunts turned to blows, and Mosley only used deadly force after he was struck,
Harvey said.

"If Mosley wanted to murder, he would have stabbed Gaines, rather than pushing
him away," Harvey said.

Morgan told jurors that the law required that self-defense be reasonable force.

"You have a right to take a fist against a fist. You have a right to take a
tank against a tank," Morgan said. "You do not have a right to take a knife
against a fist."

A picture of Lyndon Deshard Mosley can be viewed at:
http://www.accessatlanta.com/news/1998/04/18/mosley.html