"Rage
in his heart? Wanting
to be noticed? The
sickness he has?" she
wonders. "Is
it the sins of the
father? I don't know."
Imani
Taymullah wonders why her son, Joshua
Andrews would do something like
this.
"I
love him because he's my son, but
there's a point in my life when
a mother has to let go."
In
April 1982, Joshua Andrews, was
2 months old when his father, Maurice
Andrews, was accused of killing
2 men during the robbery of a jewelry
store in Beaumont, Texas. His son's
visited him on Texas' death row
until he was fatally stabbed by
another death row inmate in April
1995.
When
Joshua Andrews was 8, he received
3rd-degree burns on his face when
a neighbor boy threw gasoline on
him and lighted a match. His vocal
cords were scorched, and doctors
had to make him a new ear. "We
prayed and prayed and prayed," she
said. "He woke up one day and
said, 'Mommy, I'm hungry.' I just
cried, because his voice had come
back."
He
was teased by other children, who
called him "crispy critter" and
other names. He was later known
as "Scarface." His mother
recalls the fire was the turning
point for a son who was a normal
boy prior to that tragedy.
As
a 9 year old, he tried to help his
mother when her 3rd husband chased
her down a street with a butcher
knife.
Andrews'
juvenile arrest record in Colorado
begins in 1995. At age 12, Andrews
was sentenced to 2 years' probation,
beginning with a conviction in attempted
aggravated robbery in Arapahoe County.
He
spent time in several youth mental
health programs and was prescribed
various medications "to calm
him down." He fought, was involved
with gangs, and had a long juvenile
arrest record.
Even
his mother turned him in to police
several times, hoping it would straighten
him out. "I did everything
I could to help him, God knows I
did."
Early
in 2000, Taymullah reconciled with
her 4th husband and moved to Virginia,
leaving her sons, Joshua Andrews,
18, and Roman Martin, 19.
About
a month later, April 3, 2000, Martin
and his 15-year-old girlfriend,
Krisunda Jeanne Temple, were shot
to death in their Aurora, CO home.
Temple was shot 8 times, including
twice in her face, according to
coroners' records. Martin also was
shot 8 times.
Arapahoe
County prosecutors claimed he had
been fighting with his brother for
weeks. Martin, shot a phone jack
while Andrews was talking on the
phone. Public defenders claimed
the brothers were involved in a
drive by shooting of a rival gang
and a gang member killed Martin
and his girlfriend.
His
mother stood by him, proclaiming
his innocence through a trial in
July 2001 that ended with his acquittal.
She told the court she "prayed
and looked into Joshua's eyes, and
I know he did not commit this crime." In
a victim impact statement she said
her son was a "scapegoat" because
he is "poor, black . . . and
has a criminal history."
Sheila
Hampton, the jury forewoman, said
prosecutors failed to prove the
case "beyond any doubt in our
minds." Prosecution witnesses
contradicted themselves. "We
felt like (Andrews) did it, but
it couldn't be proven. It's not
that the defense did a great job
as much as it was prosecutors not
proving it. All we needed was one
or two credible witnesses. At the
time, I think it was the right thing
to do."
Aurora
police Detective Chuck Mehl said
he and fellow investigators worried
about Andrews' potential for violence.
Andrews'
mother maintains her son did not
kill his brother and the brother's
girlfriend nearly 2 years ago in
Aurora Colorado.
Taymullah
saw her son January 4, 2002. Andrews
told his mother he was going to
New York. She said she met Jamel
Crawford, 22. "He was a cold
man." Crawford also has a criminal
history, in 1997, he was convicted
in the shooting death of a 20-year-old
man in Virginia Beach, VA. Crawford
was scheduled to appear in court
last week on an unrelated firearms
charge.
She
asked her son again if he killed
his brother. "Roman was my
child, too. ... He swears he did
not kill Roman and Krisunda."
She
didn't know he had killed someone. "If
I had known, I swear on my life
I would have turned him in," she
said. "I wouldn't stand for
it, especially taking a life."
Andrews
and Crawford, are accused of the
shooting deaths of one man December
12, 2001 and 2 others on January
2, 2001, in Virginia, a survivor
is cooperating with police. Andrews
and Crawford are also linked to
a shooting and robbery at a store
in Stafford, VA. They are believed
to have wounded 4 people in New
York. Andrews was arrested in New
York City, with Crawford, accused
of killing one man December 12,
2001 over an apparent drug transaction
in Prince Williams, VA and 2 others
on January 2, 2001, in northern
Virginia and then surfaced again
during a robbery at a small Spanish
grocery store in Queens, where they
shot the clerk. The fleeing vehicle
slid on ice onto the front lawn
of an off-duty civilian employee
of the transit police. When he came
outside one of the men shot him.
"These
are individuals who, for whatever
reason, quickly developed an insatiable
appetite for killing," Prince
William Assistant Commonwealth Attorney
James Willett said in Virginia.
They
were captured after running a red
light in the South Bronx. They were
the target of a law enforcement
dragnet after they were identified
in the 3 Virginia homicides.
In
a phone conversation since his arrest,
Taymullah said her son admitted
involvement in the January 2, 2001,
shootings, but not the December
12, 2001 shooting. Andrews told
her Crawford forced him to participate
by threatening to kill him or his
family. "I told him if that
was true, it was because of something
he did, not something we did," Taymullah
said.
If
extradited to Virginia, Andrews
and Crawford could face the death
penalty.
Sources:
Rocky Mountain News, New York Times,
West Virginia Pilot
Kari & Associates
PO Box 7126
Olympia, WA 98507
Copyright
Kari Sable Burns 1994-2007
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