The Sherdavia Jenkins trial has had it all.
Jurors have heard emotional testimony, seen surprise witnesses, betrayal and now, a field trip to the place where the little girl from the Pork N Beans projects played with dolls on her front stoop.
Jenkins, who would have been 12 years old today, was caught in a cross fire between Damon Darling and Leroy Larose. She was only 9 and was shot in the neck by a stray bullet and died almost instantly in her mother’s arms.
And as jurors try to determine whose bullet ended Jenkins’ life, Tuesday’s eerie field trip down memory lane shows signs of how much has changed in Liberty City since that tragic day in 2006.
Jenkins’ death galvanized a community and shed light to the violent lives many youths had to endure growing up in Liberty City.
Local rappers like Trick Daddy often wrote lyrics about the war zone-like atmosphere. Dodging bullets was the norm and not even your front porch was safe.
“I ran into the house,'' Sherdavia’s younger sister, Catherine Jenkins, testified last week. “She tried to run but didn't make it.''
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Darling, 24, is on trial for Jenkins’ murder. Prosecutors believe it was a bullet from his AK-47 that hit the little girl in the neck as she fled the gun battle happening outside her door. Jurors are near the end of the trial, with closing arguments expected this week.
Larose, 31, turned state’s evidence to avoid life in prison in exchange for his testimony against Darling. He was sentenced to seven years in prison last week.
Darling’s defense is Larose was about to kill him, so he shot first. Or if jurors don’t buy that, there was a third mystery shooter that day, defense attorneys have theorized.
Either way, Jenkins was just in the wrong place – her front porch – at the wrong time.
Jurors visited eight spots in Liberty City on Tuesday that had something to do with the crime in question. The last stop was Jenkins' former home, where the fate of many was changed that sunny afternoon in 2006.
Fresh coats of blue and pink paint on the spruced up low-income apartments now cover the bullet holes in the Pork N Beans. White picket fences enclose neatly clipped yards, which now cover the stains of blood and bullet casings that once littered the front porches.
The city has focused money into the area to make it cleaner and safer for children who want to play in their front yards without fear of being in a war zone.
The changes in Liberty City may be cosmetic, but they symbolize Sherdavia’s legacy. If only she was here to see it.
