Standing in a largely empty courtroom Tuesday before the man who shot and killed her 21-year-old son, Latrice Flowers tearfully asked Judge Donald Johnson for mercy.
"You were like brothers, it didn't have to go that way," Flowers said to 24-year-old Mehki Palmer-Davis, who plead guilty to manslaughter for the April 2021 killing of his brother-in-law Raychard Flowers.
"I just wish it went another way," she said. "I miss my baby."
She asked Johnson to give Palmer-Davis less than 25 years. He agreed, sentencing him to 15 years for the manslaughter. A maximum of 40 years was possible with the charge.
Police responded to a residence on Gayosa Street the afternoon of April 29, 2021, over reports of a shooting. Raychard Flowers was found inside, dead from multiple gunshot wounds. Flowersโ death was the fifth homicide that week, during the deadliest year in Baton Rouge history.
Two witnesses told police that Palmer-Davis had come over to collect some belongings, and began arguing with Flowers over a firearm. Palmer-Davis then took possession of the gun, turned it on Flowers, and shot him.
In the courtroom on Tuesday, after years of proceedings and finally a guilty plea, Palmer-Davis apologized to the Flowers family and asked God for forgiveness.
"God knows it wasn't my intentions on killing or harming anybody that day. I was shot the day before, and didn't want to be shot again. I was honestly scared for my life," Palmer-Davis said. "In these five years, there's not a day that I don't wish I could take it all away. I wish I would've stayed to help Raychard. He was someone I could see as a best friend and brother."
Latrice Flowers broke into tears near the end of the apology, which she accepted.
She said the two young men had known each other since they were teenagers and had their families deeply interwoven.
"It's hard for me because I have to think about it every day. I see his children everyday." Flowers told Palmer-Davis, who was sitting in chains at the defense's table in court. "His oldest still asks, 'why did Uncle Ki kill my daddy?'"