Months after two former high schoolers were sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to planning and carrying out the brutal murder of a Broward classmate back in 2021, a third student involved in the scheme also pled guilty.
Andre Clements, 20, on Tuesday, pleaded guilty to murder, tampering with evidence and conspiracy to commit murder in the killing of 18-year-old Dwight "DJ" Grant.
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WATCH HEREClements was sentenced to 40 years in prison, followed by lifetime probation.
Grant’s family was present during Clements' hearing and Grant's mother cried as she tried to convey her suffering to the judge.
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"I will never walk my son down the aisle, he’ll never come say anything to me 'cause he’s not here," Madelyn Emile said. "He’s resting in power. All the good things my son did, the memories will always be with me.“
Other family and friends told the judge Grant was a sweet kid who enjoyed drawing and playing on the computer.
He was set to graduate high school a few months later.
After Grant's family spoke, and just as Judge Ernest Kollra was about to hand down the sentence, NBC6 cameras captured Kollra starting to cry and walking out of the room.
Kollra had just said he was haunted by this case and wondered how it could happen.
According to authorities, Christie Parisien and Jaslyn Smith, plotted with Clements to kill their Miramar High School classmate, Grant, because he allegedly hooked up with Clements' ex-girlfriend.
Grant was reported missing on Oct. 17, 2021, and his body was found two days later in some bushes at the Miramar apartment complex where he lived.
Authorities said he was stabbed with a knife and sword after he was lured into a stairwell at the complex.
The shocking murder was captured on surveillance footage and rocked the Miramar community.
In 2023, Clements' attorneys sought to have the case against him dropped on a technicality. They claimed prosecutors had failed to charge him correctly since in the indictment, Clements' name was only mentioned in the caption but not in the description below as the law requires.
Following his sentencing, Clements apologized to the family and said he would give his life to bring Grant back if he would.
A family friend told NBC6 those were just words and they don't do anything to ease their suffering.
