JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man who was 17 years old when he was arrested in 2019 in the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old Ed White High student was sentenced Friday to serve 15 years in state prison for the girl’s death.
Alayshia Powe was found shot to death in July 2019 in a home on Watershed Drive in the Whitehouse area.
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Tremayne Javares Robinson was arrested days later and was initially charged with Powe’s murder.
Robinson eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter and tampering with evidence. Judge Jonathan Sacks sentenced him Friday to 15 years on the manslaughter charge and five years on the tampering charge. The sentences will run concurrently. With credit for time served, Robinson will spend another 11 years or so in prison.
Sacks said he considered the recommendations from the state, the family and the defense but the final sentence came down to Robinson’s age at the time (17) and his lack of a prior criminal record. Robinson was also ordered to serve five years of probation after his prison term and to pay court costs.
Letitia Strickland said their family was given a life sentence with the loss of their daughter and feels Robinson was given a slap on the wrist.
Strickland said right now she feels bitter, after sitting through four years of court proceedings, but she cherishes the 17 beautiful years she had with her daughter.
“I believe she’d be in law school. She wanted to be a lawyer. Law and Order was her favorite TV show. And I know she would, you know, make me proud,” Strickland said.
She said her daughter was loved by so many people.
“Her being there for all of her friends, and just being a beautiful soul. You know, and we have a lot of people that can attest to that,” Strickland said.
Powe worked at McDonald’s, was an Employee of the Month and always had a smile on her face.
She had a passion for fashion, buying Jordans and getting her hair, nails, and makeup done.
She was described as a respectable, well-mannered young lady who was all about her family.
“My younger daughter looks identical to her. And she asks me, you know, little questions. ‘How tall was she?’” she said. “They see things from the news and from other kids and things of that nature. Just trying to you know, I try to more so cover them...We will never forget her. And her name will be carried on through us.”
In her daughter’s honor, Strickland wants to advocate for other families and mothers who lose loved ones to gun violence.
She wanted to share one sentiment with any youth listening, something she tells her kids and told Alayshia many times: don’t use the word friend lightly, everyone is not your friend.
And being in this club of people losing children to gun violence, is not something she’d wish on anyone.
A neighbor’s security camera captured the moments before and after the shooting, including Robinson throwing something in a drain that turned out to be the gun.
According to Robinson’s arrest report, he attended Mandarin High School at the time of the shooting. Powe was killed before starting her senior year at Ed White High School.