Teen found guilty in Galloway slaying

MANATEE — A mother trying in vain to breathe life back into her son’s bleeding body. An autopsy photo displaying a metal probe showing the path of a bullet tearing through 18-year-old Dejuan Williams’ lungs and aorta on a medical table. A friend carrying Williams’ limp body to the front of his home in the dark.

Perhaps it was those images presented by prosecutors that led a jury of three men and three women to find 17-year-old Byron J. Galloway guilty of second-degree murder and aggravated assault charges Friday afternoon after he shot and killed a star athlete and Bayshore High School graduate a year ago.

Deliberations lasted two hours before jurors reached a verdict. Galloway will have another date set for sentencing. The maximum sentence is life in prison.

Williams’ mother cried quietly taking deep breaths as the verdict was rendered.

“We’re just so relieved — so happy. The jury was wonderful,” said Carla Thomas, Williams’ great-aunt, who spoke on behalf of the family. “It’s a big relief after all the heaviness. We needed this for the healing process.”

Galloway was visiting Williams’ younger sister, Jamaetra Washington, 15, and shot Williams when he was confronted in the backyard the night of Aug. 4, 2009.

Washington was not allowed to have boys over when she was home alone, according to household rules.

Williams called his mother and returned home with a few friends. Galloway, and another boy, fled the house through a window. Galloway was found by one of Williams’ friends hiding behind the shed in the backyard.

When Williams confronted him holding a baseball bat, Galloway apologized at first before pulling out a gun and saying, “Forget this,” according to testimony.

Chris Pratt, Galloway’s defense attorney, argued his client was scared. He said it was self defense.

“The adrenaline is pumping. He is in panic mode. (The prosecutors) are asking you to slow down something that can’t be slowed down,” Pratt said. “You have to look at in context. … Byron Galloway was scared. … There’s a man with a baseball bat coming toward him — not looking for a conversation. He’s angry. He’s cussing.”

Prosecutors disagreed.

“The only person who was scared to death was for a short period of time — when he saw he was on the other end of the gun,” said Assistant State Attorney Bruce Lee describing Williams clutching a baseball bat. Lee gestured with the small .22 caliber handgun before the jury. “He turned to use his speed — but didn’t have the chance because it was lights out.”

Pratt referenced a letter Galloway sent from the jail in March to a friend reflecting on Williams’ slaying.

“I was defending myself, brother. I didn’t want to do it to him, but I had to,” he writes in a letter dated March 19. “It was either me or him.”

And prosecutors referenced a different portion of the same letter.

“I was going to kill all of them, but the gun jammed,” wrote Galloway — who did not take the stand during the trial. He adds, “I was glad it did.”

Thomas said she hopes Galloway receives life in prison.

“We cannot get Dejuan’s life back. We can’t see him. We can’t touch him,” she said.

Galloway’s family declined to comment as they exited the courthouse Friday afternoon.