CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – There wasn’t a dry eye in sight as two brothers were sentenced to prison Wednesday morning for the voluntary manslaughter of a 19-year-old.
On the night of Feb. 22, 2020, police responded to a shots fired call on Cranklen Circle near the Clarksville Regional Airport. Responders arrived to find Malik Madison, 19, gravely injured. He was rushed to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and six days later, on Feb. 28, Madison died from his injuries.
During the investigation, police arrested two brothers, KyJuan Fuller, 16 at the time, and Jakarius Medley, 18. On May 29, 2024, a jury found both of them guilty of voluntary manslaughter and lesser-included charges.
Joyless holidays and fake smiles
Sebnem Broaden, Madison’s mother, took to the stand to deliver her victim impact statement. Listening from the gallery, among friends and family, was her 11-year-old daughter.
“Today is the day I’ve been waiting on for four years, five months, and 21 days,” Broaden said. “I’ve patiently waited to get up here and speak about the great loss that my family, friends and I have suffered to the disgusting and poor decisions, and negligence of the defendants.”
On Feb. 22, 2020, Broaden, living in Germany at the time, received the phone call that her son had been shot. “I fell on my knees, dropped the phone, and screamed,” she said.
Broaden then had to tell her then-7-year-old daughter that her big brother was sick at the hospital, and that she had to leave to bring him back. But when she arrived stateside, she was given the news that her son had died. After the funeral, Broaden returned to Germany to face her daughter, who was waiting by the door, excited to see her big brother.
“She had asked me, ‘Mommy, where’s Malik?'” Broaden said tearfully. “It broke my heart even more when I had to tell her that he was with God now. … She waked out onto the balcony searching for her brother in the sky, and broke down crying, saying, ‘I can’t see him, Mommy, where is Malik?'”
“Holidays are joyless because Malik isn’t here anymore,” Broaden said. “My daughter is doing everything in her power to make me feel so loved, special and happy, and all I can do is put a fake smile on my face because I’m so broken.”
Fuller and Medley speak
Both Medley, 22, and Fuller, 21, addressed the court as they prepared to receive their sentences.
“I want to start by apologizing to the friends and family of Malik Madison,” Medley said. “Because now, I’m beginning to understand the enjoyment of life, and once it’s taken away, it can’t be replaced.”
Medley told the court his background is like a lot of kids in the community, and doing time behind four walls will be their future if they don’t find better ways to deal with their emotions and reactions.
“I’m glad justice was served, not just for Malik’s family, but mine,” Medley said. “This all turned out to be a tremendous mistake that I find myself regretting more when I go to sleep and wake up in a cell. The pain that I caused is something I pray that God and the family can heal and forgive me for.”
“I wish I would have set a better example for my little brother,” Medley said while his brother, sitting at the defense table, wiped away tears.
Fuller reflected on his efforts to better himself as he delivered his statement, telling the court that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.
“I never wanted anyone to lose their life,” Fuller said, his voice stricken with emotion. “And I’m so, very sorry. I hope you find the strength in your hearts to forgive me.”
Mothers’ tearful pleas
The defendants’ mothers, Aiesha Medley and Paige Fuller, spoke on their sons’ growth, development and maturity and vouched for their ability to eventually re-enter society.
“He is more mature, and he’s remorseful,” Aiesha Medley told the court. “I have a job that he can enter, so I have employment lined up for him, and he has a steady support system as well.”
Paige Fuller told the court that at the time of the incident her son was only 16. Since his incarceration, he’s continued his education and achieved his high school diploma and now has aspirations to become a chef. “He’s (Fuller) more mature and he seems more wise,” Paige tearfully said. “He takes full responsibility.”
Paige explained that they come from a close-knit family and will be her son’s support system. She said that her son would stay with his grandfather, who is a major part of Fuller’s life, and intends to go to culinary school one day to be a chef. Paige asked for leniency on her son.
The age-old nursery rhyme
“Cases like this, there is no good solution,” Judge William Goodman said as he prepared to deliver the sentences. “Because back on Feb. 22, 2020, the lives of multiple families were changed, and they will never be the same again.”
He said our society has a disturbed fixation on guns and offered the perspective that the defendants went to sell drugs but got ripped off when they were paid with fake cash.
“They got up even on the deal and set out to make it right, but in ‘making it right’ it resulted in absolute tragedy,” he said.
Goodman delivered the following sentence on Medley, a total of 10 years:
- Attempted burglary of a building: One year (consecutive)
- Attempted voluntary manslaughter: 36 months (consecutive)
- Employ firearm with the intent to go armed in the attempt of a dangerous felony: Six years (consecutive)
- Voluntary manslaughter: 36 months (concurrent)
- Reckless aggravated assault: One year (concurrent)
- Reckless endangerment – discharging a firearm into an occupied habitat: 36 months (concurrent)
Fuller received the following sentence, a total of 9 1/2 years:
- Attempted aggravated criminal trespass: Six months (consecutive)
- Attempted voluntary manslaughter: 36 months (consecutive)
- Employ firearm with the intent to go armed in the attempt of a dangerous felony: Six years (consecutive)
- Voluntary manslaughter: 36 months (concurrent)
- Reckless aggravated assault: One year (concurrent)
- Reckless endangerment – discharging a firearm into an occupied habitat: 36 months (concurrent)
Previously:
- Drive-by shooting: Trial begins for brothers charged with gunning down 19-year-old in Clarksville
- 3 takeaways from drive-by shooting trial: Passengers, roommate testify
- Drive-by shooting trial testimony: Fake money, deadly accuracy, lie turned fatal
- Drive-by shooting trial: Brothers found guilty of manslaughter for gunning down 19-year-old
- ‘I was reliving his killing’: Mother of drive-by shooting victim recalls her son’s love, jury’s verdict
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