Senior Justice Anita Allen sentenced Mario Flowers, 28, to death for the murder of a police officer who was gunned down nearly three years ago.
Flowers was convicted of the murder of Constable Ramos Williams. Floers and his relatives protested the sentencing, causing a disruption in the court.
PC Williams and other police officers were on patrol in a marked police car in the area of Collins Avenue, near Doctor’s Hospital, around 2:00am on December 29, 2007. They spotted a suspicious group of men in a Nissan Sentra.
The Sentra stopped near a container on the eastern side of Deveaux Street, across from the Tribune building. Two men jumped from the vehicle and started running. Officers Williams and Curry chased the men. After shots were heard from the back of the container, PC Williams was found to have been shot in the chest.
“An unarmed officer was cruelly gunned down in the prime of his life and in the execution of his duties, as he sought to protect the public from persons who he suspected, and on the evidence were, a threat to their security.” Justice Allen said in sentencing Flowers.
“Murder by the use of firearms is far too prevalent. Every day, the citizens of this nation are shocked by the increasing level of violence, which appears to be spiraling without any let-up and the public feels powerless.
“The clarion message must therefore go out from this court today that such violence will not be tolerated. I have therefore determined that the objectives of sentencing in this case must be both punishment and deterrence.
“Having carefully considered the aggravating factors and in the absence of more compelling mitigating factors, I conclude that the sentence, which is appropriate to the gravity of the offence and will achieve the above objectives of sentencing, is the death penalty,” the judge said.
Sylvester Aritis, Flowers’ co-accused, was acquitted of PC Williams’ murder. He was, however, found guilty of the attempted murder of PC Antoine Curry, who was with Williams the night he was killed. Aritis was sentenced to 20 years in jail.
