A 14-year-old boy has been sentenced to 10 years in a juvenile corrections facility for punching a stranger in the face without provocation, causing the man’s death. The teen, who is not being identified because he was prosecuted as a juvenile, admitted on Jan. 5 that he had committed delinquent conduct/manslaughter for striking Mark Gregory once with a closed fist on Oct. 6, causing his head to violently strike the pavement.

            On Thursday, state district Judge Jean Boyd continued a punishment hearing that began in January and, after hearing from both sides, assessed the teen’s punishment.

            “This was a horribly violent, senseless crime and this respondent deserved hard time,” said Assistant District Attorney Brock Groom, who prosecuted the case with Riley Shaw. “My thoughts are with the family of Mark Gregory and we hope that this will help provide some sort of closure.”

            Just after 10 p.m. on October 6, the teen was riding in a Cadillac with two friends when he suddenly jumped out of the vehicle in the 1700 block of Vaughn Avenue and punched Gregory, who was 5-foot-1 and weighed 106 pounds. Gregory’s head struck the pavement and he died two days later.

Melody McDonald

Public Information Officer

Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney's Office

401 West Belknap

Fort Worth, TX 76196

817-884-3120 (direct)

817-821-3935 (cell)

mjmcdonald@tarrantcounty.com

 Twitter: @TarrantDAOffice