TULSA, Okla. — A Tulsa mom says the man who killed her son should be spending more time in prison.
“It floors me on how everything has played out,” said Kim Stephens.
From the time he was a little boy, Johnathan Stephens always had a smile on his face.
“He could walk into the room and make everybody smile no matter how bad his day was,” said Stephens.
Johnathan loved his family and especially his little girl Serenity, who was just 2 years old when he was murdered.
“Now that Serenity is growing up a little bit now, she’s asking questions,” said Stephens. “She wants to know what happened.”
Kim Stephens, Johnathan’s mom, said 7 years after his death, she thought she’d be healing but she’s been reliving the horror of his murder.
“I thought we had justice,” said Stephens. “I don’t think so now.”
Nathan Simmons and Emmitt Sam were convicted in Johnathan’s death and the string of carjackings that led up to it. Simmons is serving more than 50 years for the crimes. Sam was initially serving a life sentence for first degree murder, but he’s Native American and because of the McGirt ruling his case was moved to federal court.
“I wouldn’t wish this on anybody,” said Stephens. “This time was hard enough, but after 7 years when you’re starting to heal all those wounds back open. It’s been horrible.”
Last Friday, Sam pleaded guilty to 'carjacking resulting in death.'
“It sounds like it was an accident, or it wasn’t on purpose,” said Stephens. “No this was on purpose. This person shot my son.”
A sentence of 210 months, about 17 and a half years, is expected to come with it.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Stephens. “210 months for a death, for him taking away my son is not enough.”
Stephens said she expected Emmitt Sam to be in prison for decades, but now he’ll be out when her granddaughter is in her 20’s.
“It’s not enough time, not enough time at all,” said Stephens.
Sam will be officially sentenced at a later date.
In a statement, the U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson said, “Every investigation and prosecution is unique. My office must weigh the evidence at the time of trial and determine the most effective way to proceed. We communicate directly with families to discuss those strategies, as we did in this case.”
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