Omahan Justin Gaines was gunned down in broad daylight, the victim of an ambush killing.
His killer deserves nothing but darkness, a Gaines' family member said in court Friday.
In the darkness, aunt Kejana Gaines said, she hopes convicted murderer Trevelle Taylor sees one image.
“I hope you see (Justin's) face every time you close your eyes.” she said.
Before sentencing Taylor to the mandatory life sentence Friday, Douglas County Judge Marlon Polk had to interrupt Kejana Gaines twice to remind her to address him and not Taylor.
Kejana Gaines apologized. But she couldn't help herself. She kept feeling the tug, kept turning to look at the man who was convicted by a jury in June of first-degree murder and weapon use.
“No matter how much you took from us,” she told Taylor, “you didn't take our family and you didn't take our faith in God.”
That Saturday in September, prosecutors say, Taylor didn't bother to face Justin Gaines before he and another gunman riddled his car with at least 16 shots.
Early that afternoon, Gaines recognized a woman he knew and pulled into her driveway near 45th Street and Curtis Avenue.
The two hugged and chatted. Sitting in the driver's seat of his car, Gaines asked the woman to write down her phone number.
The woman had gone to fetch a pen when two gunmen approached.
Flanking the back bumper of Gaines' car, the gunmen opened fire.
Only one of the shots hit Gaines, but it was enough. The bullet entered Gaines' back, zipped through his lung and lodged in his heart.
Omaha police officers responded and caught Taylor, a 17-year-old with little criminal record, running nearby. Gunshot residue tests linked him to shells found at the scene.
Authorities cast the shooting as gang-related, though no official could say why Gaines was targeted just four days after he had gotten out of prison. Gaines, 20, had served six months for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
A second man, Joshua Nolan, awaits trial in the slaying.
The sentencing capped a difficult stretch for the Gaines family. In February 2009, Kejana Gaines said her brother, Michael Gaines, 31, was shot and killed in the Phoenix area during what was apparently a robbery.
In September, Justin Gaines was killed. Then in December, a beam fell on Justin Gaines' little brother at school — critically injuring him. He has since recovered.
Kejana Gaines said Justin Gaines' relatives, especially his mother and younger siblings, miss him dearly.
“Justin was a very strong man. He loved his family. He loved music. He loved to dance,” she said.
“Because of what you did,” she said to Taylor, “my sister never got to see her oldest son have a family or have kids of his own.”
Contact the writer:
444-1275, todd.cooper@owh.com
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