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In 2013, the following email started circulating around the internet: On March 21, 2013, 13-month-old Antonio Santiago (also referred to as Antonio West, his mother's surname) was shot to death in his stroller in the southeastern Georgia town of Brunswick. Antonio's mother reported to police that her son had been killed by two boys who had demanded money from her and then shot Antonio when she did not comply with their demand: The following day, police arrested two suspects in the case, later identified as De'Marquise Elkins, who was 17 at the time, and 15-year-old Dominique Lang: Elkins was also indicted for another attempted robbery and shooting that took place ten days prior to the killing of Antonio West: Elkins' sister, mother, and aunt were charged for tampering with evidence and providing false alibis: The comparisons in the example text between the killings of Trayvon Martin and Antonio West are an example of false equivalency, however, as the two cases are nearly polar opposites. In the Trayvon Martin case, there was never any doubt as to the identity of his killer (George Zimmerman), yet several weeks elapsed before the shooter was charged with a crime and taken into custody, and the local police were widely criticized for mishandling the investigation of the incident. In the Antonio West case the identity of the killer(s) was initially unknown, but suspects were quickly determined through police investigation and then promptly arrested and charged, with no one suggesting that local police mishandled any aspect of the case. The circumstances of the Trayvon Martin case therefore fostered the public perception (correct or not) that the case would never have been properly investigated and adjudicated had it not been widely publicized in the media, but nothing about the Antonio West suggested that anyone need rush to Brunswick GA to demand justice in order for justice to be done. The reference to a hate crime is also a red herring: George Zimmerman was not charged with a hate crime, nor did police investigating the Antonio West shooting find any evidence that the race of the victims was a factor in the commission of the crime. The Antonio West killing did garner a fair amount of national coverage (particularly on CNN) at the time it occurred, but that level of attention soon waned when suspects were arrested and charged within days of the shooting. In a country that sees over 16,000 homicides every year, only a small handful receive prolonged national attention, and the Antonio West case had no sensational or controversial aspects of the type that typically drive ongoing national media coverage. The defendants in that case did not face the death penalty if found guilty, not because (as claimed above) a grand jury decided they should not, but because Georgia law precludes capital punishment for crimes committed by persons under the age of 18: On Aug. 30, 2013, De'Marquise Elkins was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. His mother Karimah Elkins was convicted of tampering with evidence and sentenced to ten years. Dominique Lang testified against Elkins, and his trial is still pending.
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