History of the Brooks Case
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del.icio.usJuly 15, 2006: Teen pleads guilty in Chelsea Brooks' death
BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle
As Chelsea Brooks' relatives sat in a courtroom Friday dabbing tears and gripping each other's hands, Everett Gentry told how an alleged accomplice strangled the pregnant 14-year-old - for $500.
Gentry, 17, pleaded guilty to capital murder and agreed to testify, if necessary, against the other two defendants in the case.
Gentry told Sedgwick County District Judge Greg Waller that Chelsea's boyfriend, Elgin "Ray-Ray" Robinson Jr., 20, had requested the killing and that Theodore G. Burnett, 49, agreed to carry it out. "He (Burnett) said he would do the job for $500."
Gentry told the judge that on June 9, he picked Chelsea up. She apparently thought she was going to see Robinson. While she sat in the front seat, Burnett reached from the back seat and strangled her, Gentry said.
Her body was found nearly a week later in a secluded spot in Butler County.
When Waller asked Gentry why Robinson would want the girl killed, Gentry said it was because Robinson thought he would be prosecuted for impregnating her.
Gentry's sentencing is set for Aug. 24.
Under the plea agreement, an aggravated kidnapping charge was dropped, and Gentry would receive life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. A maximum sentence would be life with the possibility of parole after 40 or 50 years.
Because of his age, he was not eligible for the death penalty. Gentry, whose birthday is just days away, could have faced the death penalty if he had been 18 at the time of the crime.
DeAnna Williams, a friend of Chelsea's mother, Terri Brooks, said family members wanted to relay that they were pleased with the guilty plea.
Shauna Chauncey, 14, who became close to Chelsea at Allison Middle School, said Friday that she is still struggling with the loss of her friend "because we were just talking about going to high school together, and it makes me mad... to know she's not going to be there."
One of Gentry's sisters, 19-year-old LaQuanna Coleman, said: "I'm upset that he let the situation happen with him being involved."
The crime was "so brutal" and senseless, she said. "I just don't understa nd... . I send all my condolences to the Chelsea Brooks family, and I'm sorry they're going through such a tragedy with their daughter and their grandbaby."
She wasn't sure how Gentry knew Burnett, but her brother and Robinson had been friends since junior high, she said.
Coleman said she also wants people to know that her brother was referring to another relative when he told Waller that he initially brought Chelsea to a sister's house the night she died.
Robinson and Burnett are charged with capital murder and aggravated kidnapping. Their lawyers couldn't be reached for comment.
When Waller asked Gentry to describe how the killing occurred, Gentry said it began with a phone conversation he had from Burnett's home with Robinson, in which Robinson said "he wanted me to pick Chelsea up and to have her killed."
Gentry said he later met Chelsea at Skate South in a Buick Skylark and left her at his sister's house. He then picked up Burnett, who asked if he had shovels and other "supplies," Gentry said. While the girl remained at the house, he said, he got the shovels.
Then they went to get Chelsea. With Burnett in the back seat and Chelsea in the front, Gentry drove east on Harry toward Andover. Before they got to Andover Road, Burnett strangled her with a wire or cord, Gentry told the judge.
On a secluded dirt road in Butler County, the car became stuck. Burnett took Chelsea out of the car to a spot behind some trees, while Gentry used a shovel to free the car, Gentry said.
Burnett then told him to start digging a hole, Gentry said. Burnett finished digging, put Chelsea's body in the grave and covered it with dirt, he said.
When Waller asked why Robinson said he wanted the girl killed, Gentry responded: "He said that she was pregnant with his baby." He said Robinson told him Chelsea's family was going to have Robinson prosecuted for statutory rape or some other crime.
District Attorney Nola Foulston has said that authorities were waiting for Chelsea to give birth so they could conduct a paternity test. Chelsea was nine months pregnant when she died.
Months before Chelsea's death, Terri Brooks obtained a protective order in an attempt to keep Robinson away from her daughter.
"She is now pregnant, and he is psychologically manipulating her to keep secret the fact that he is the father," Terri Brooks wrote in a court document in February when she sought the order.
In court Friday, Waller asked Gentry a series of questions to make sure he understood his rights.
"I'm pleading guilty because I am guilty," Gentry said.
Waller noted that Gentry and his mother, Yolanda Davis, signed the plea agreement.
Waller said nothing requires him to accept the agreement at sentencing.
Throughout the hearing, Gentry spoke in a soft but even voice. At 5 feet 5 inches, 125 pounds, his lawyer, Bradley Sylvester, towered over him.
Gentry wore leg shackles and a dark green Juvenile Detention Facility jumpsuit. A guard had released his handcuffs.
Earlier, he smiled at several of his relatives as they entered the court.
Contributing: Hurst Laviana and Catherine Ho of The Eagle