LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — In court Wednesday afternoon, one of the two men convicted in a 2021 drive-by shooting at a Louisville bus stop that killed 16-year-old Tyree Smith was sentenced to decades in prison.
Mekhi Cable cut a plea deal for manslaughter in the death of his cousin, 15-year-old Cortez Duncan, on Thanksgiving in 2021. Prosecutors said "he's taken responsibility for the murder of" Duncan, who died at the hospital after being shot several times on Hecks Lane, near River Park Drive. That was two months after Smith was shot and killed, before Cable was arrested. The plea deal for Duncan's death is 10 years in prison.
In June, a jury convicted Cable and Demaurion Moore of murder, attempted murder, two counts of fourth-degree assault, three counts of wanton endangerment, receiving stolen property and possession of a handgun by a minor.
The two men were convicted of murdering Smith, an Eastern High School student, in a drive-by shooting Sept. 22, 2021, at West Chestnut and Dr. W.J. Hodge streets. Moore and Cable were 15 at the time of the shooting. Both were indicted in July 2022 for Smith's death and Duncan's death.
Two other children, a 13-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, were also at the bus stop and survived after being shot. Police said Smith was not the intended target.
In court Wednesday, Judge Tracy Davis went with the jury's recommended sentence of 60 years for Cable. That will run at the same time as the 10 years for Duncan's death.
"It's been five long years and, you know, I feel like they get a chance to see their child. I don't get a chance to see Ty," Tyree Smith's mother, Sherita Smith, said Wednesday. "The last time I physically saw my child alive, he was on the ground at his bus stop. You know, they do get to visit their kid in jail and talk to him on the phone, we don't get that. At the end of the day, there's no winners."
Moore's sentencing will be rescheduled. He took a sentencing deal after his conviction for 35 years in prison and will get credit for time served, agreeing to not seek probation or shock probation. Cable was also offered the deal but did not accept, leaving his fate up to the jury and the judge.
"My son was 16 sat the time of the accident, and I feel like his life really mattered. The same way they had the opportunity to turn their life around and make the right decisions, Tyree, you know he didn't get that opportunity," Sherita Smith said. "He was on the straight path. He didn't get the opportunity for a second chance. They got a second chance. They still have their life, and he doesn't have his."
Throughout the trial, phone records, video surveillance, text messages and DNA evidence have all been brought up. But the defense argued that wasn't enough.
Both defense attorneys for Cable and Moore claimed there was no evidence of either defendants at the bus stop. No video of them driving the stolen Jeep used in the drive-by shooting, no video of them shooting guns at the bus stop and no video of them at the bus stop.
Despite this, prosecutors argued there was plenty of other evidence. That included video surveillance of Cable getting into the stolen Jeep before the time of the shooting and DNA from both Moore and Cable found on objects in the Jeep.
This story may be updated.
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