The sentence for a Texas teen convicted of murdering an Uber Eats delivery driver was entered Thursday as the victim’s family addressed his crime: “Who does that?”
(Video: Fox 4)
On Jan. 23, 2021, Ryan Munsie Graham, a 31-year-old mother of three young children working four jobs to support her family, was fatally stabbed in Haltom City, Texas, just outside Fort Worth. Having accepted a plea deal with the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, Zakariya Marshall, now 17, began his sentence of 45 years in prison having to listen to remarks from family, including Graham’s mother and stepmother.
At the time, investigators had found the 14-year-old had plotted with another juvenile to steal the victim’s car. His plea deal downgraded his charge of capital murder to murder and he expressed from the courtroom, “I think about her a lot.”
“I’m sorry she was the one who had to experience my anger for things that had nothing to do with her,” he stated as he contended that he had found God since his crime. “I’m not the same person I was two years ago, but I still haven’t forgiven myself.”
Suzanne Munsie, the victim’s mother, was not interested in the young man’s apology or in offering him sympathy for his crime as she previewed the bleak life he had before him via remote video call, “Do you honestly expect that after what you did to Ryan and you took her life away, that you’re going to go on, you’re going to be able to live out your big plans?”
“Do you expect to caress the face of a loved one with the same fists that you beat my daughter in the face and stomach with? Do you expect at some point to kick a soccer ball with your child, the same feet that you used to kick my daughter in the head and stomach? Those were choices and now you’ve got consequences of your choices,” she said. “You made a choice to go out to try to steal a car. You made a choice when she was passed out to stab her in the neck with a knife. Who does that?”
“I’m glad they gave you 45 years,” the grieving mother added.
Marshall’s sentence made him eligible for parole in 22 years and, to that end, the victim’s stepmother Donna Munsie expressed to Fox 4 that “He should spend his life in jail,” for robbing her stepdaughter’s children, then-11-, 10- and five-years old, of their mother. “How do you tell those children that their mommy is not coming home. Ryan is never going to get to watch these three kids grow up.”
However, she did note at the sentencing hearing that she would keep Marshall in her prayers.
The Haltom City Police Department reported that the other juvenile had been sentenced to seven years with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department for aggravated robbery.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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