Antonio J. Jones' Choice

Seventeen-year-old Antonio J. Jones cried. He said he was sorry. He asked for forgiveness.

That's not unusual behavior. Seventeen-year-olds screw up all the time. But when the mistake involves an armed robbery attempt and murder, it's more than just poor judgment.

I'm sorry isn't enough. That doesn't cut it.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

A 17-year-old who shot and killed a popular Waukesha boxing coach last year during a botched robbery at a Milwaukee gas station was sentenced Thursday to 35 years in prison and 15 years of extended supervision.

Antonio J. Jones was 16 at the time he pulled a gun and tried to rob Scott Huggins, 44, at a Citgo at 4302 W. Capitol Drive while Huggins was fueling his SUV at 3 p.m. March 21. According to the criminal complaint, Huggins shouted a couple of profanities and appeared to try to grab the gun. Two shots were fired at Huggins, who died later at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa.

..."You killed my best friend, a boxing coach who helped troubled youth," said Pat Hubertz, the victim's brother-in-law. Like many of the more than 15 who attended the sentencing, he wore a black "Medina's Boxing Gym" sweat shirt with Huggins' name on the back. Some cried quietly during the sentencing.

Jones, whose wrists were shackled, wept as he asked forgiveness from the Huggins family. "I hope and pray that they find it in their hearts to forgive me," he said. "I have to own up to my actions and consequences. . . . I wished a million times I hadn't done that, but I can't change the past. I hope my family and the Huggins family can forgive my actions. I am truly sorry. "

As he spoke, his great-grandmother, Deziree Wheeler, sobbed. She expressed sympathy for what had happened and asked the judge to "be merciful."

I have no doubt that Jones and his family are suffering greatly.

Jones said he is accepting responsibility for his actions and truly sorry. He was begging for forgiveness.

I wonder what Jones really wanted. Forgiveness or a lighter sentence?

He asked for mercy from the judge. Of course, Jones showed no mercy for Scott Huggins.

In a piece about Huggins, Laurel Walker writes:

When Huggins, 44, struggled with Jones rather than give up his wallet, the gun went off and Huggins was hit by a bullet. As he tried to flee to safety, he was shot again in the back.

Jones shot Huggins in the back as he was trying to get away.

Absolutely horrible.

Where's the mercy there?

Walker uses a letter written by Trinette Hernandez, a friend of Huggins for 30 years, to tell this story of personal responsibility, actions and consequences.

Hernandez wrote the letter to the judge because she questioned her ability to say what she wanted to say while in the courtroom with Jones. She wasn't sure she could maintain her composure.

While Jones and his family were asking for mercy in his sentencing, Hernandez clearly points out that all of this was about choices.

In her letter, she contrasted the horrible choices that Jones made March 21 with those made by her friend when he was about the same age.

Huggins was 17 when his father died, leaving him the man of the house with his mother and two sisters. "Scott's mother had seizures and was mentally ill, which is not an easy thing to deal with, live with, or be responsible for at such a young age."

At the same time, Scott became a father himself, she wrote.

"Now, did Scott choose to run and hide? No, he did not. He finished high school, married his high school sweetheart and became both a husband and a father. He got a job and supported them."

He made the right choices.

Though her friend's first marriage didn't last, he later met and married Debbie, his widow. While a father to his own two children, he also worked to be a good stepfather to Debbie's two children, too, a job he took seriously.

"Scott chose to work for everything he had," Hernandez said. Because of his hard work, and Debbie's, too, they built their own dream home from the ground up. He built a cottage up north - from the ground up - "again with hard work, pride and sweat."

"It was the only way Scott knew how to do things," she wrote. "Scott had everything in life going for him solely due to the choices he made in life. He believed in God, read the Bible, had a good job, great kids, wonderful grandchildren and a great wife."

Hernandez has no pity for Jones, "who wants us to feel sorry for him because of the horrible life he has been dealt." She wants him to get the maximum sentence.

"Mr. Huggins did not ask for the hand he was dealt in life, either," Hernandez said.

The contrast between Jones and Huggins at the same age is striking.

Huggins didn't give up because his life was so difficult. He didn't use it as an excuse to rob or kill.

He dealt with it. He not only made a good life for himself, he was good to others.

His is truly an inspiring story with a heartbreaking ending.

Huggins overcame so much because that was what he chose to do.

Jones made his choice, too. Think of how many lives he destroyed because of his decisions.

Why can't people like Jones understand that they're really ruining their own lives when they choose to be so callous and violent?

Jones chose his pain. He chose it. He's not the victim here.