Jamaria Randle gets life in prison for January 2022 murder of Deven Slade Brooks

Jamaria Xavier Randle was sentenced to life in prison Monday for the January 2021 murder of Ball resident Deven Slade Brooks, but not before the victim's family walked out of court in protest when it looked like Randle's mother might get the chance to speak.

During victim impact statements, Brooks' mother and grandmothers took turns excoriating Randle, calling her "a monster," "an evil coward" and more.

Randle, 23, didn't look at any of the women as they spoke from the witness stand in 9th Judicial District Court Judge Patricia Koch's courtroom, sitting behind a photo of Brooks.

A Rapides Parish jury on Feb. 17 found her guilty of second-degree murder in the Jan. 9, 2022, shooting death of Brooks, 27. He was kidnapped from his apartment that night to get access to money he had inherited, and Rapides Parish Assistant District Attorney Lea Hall painted Randle as the force behind that plot during her trial.

Randle's husband, Terrance Lavalais, testified against her as part of a plea agreement he had accepted on Feb. 1. In exchange for pleading guilty to second-degree murder and testifying against the other defendants, it's possible the state could ask for less than the mandatory life in prison without probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

Tremaine Veal, Randle's cousin, is set for trial on the same charge in August.

Brooks' mother, Candace Blood, was the first to speak. She smiled and glanced at Koch, saying what she was about to do was "very hard."

She called being forced to share her grief in front of a packed courtroom "absolutely brutal, traumatizing and surreal." She told Randle she had sentenced Brooks' family to a life of grief and pain while she continues to breathe.

"Deven had no idea monsters like you existed," she said. "Neither did I."

All her son did was try to help Randle, and she repaid him by binding him with Gorilla tape, cords and zip ties and dumped his body beside the Red River, she said. Blood called her a "disgusting and terrible" human being.

She cried as she described constantly thinking about how scared her oldest son was during the last hours of his life and said he deserved so much more.

"I miss him terribly," said Blood, saying it sickens her knowing Randle's face was one of the last ones he saw.

"I hope you suffer every day for the rest of your life," she said. "Nothing seems right in my world."

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And Blood recalled Randle's testimony during her trial, saying she tried to portray herself as a victim but in reality was a master manipulator. She spoke of having to drive over the Red River twice each day to go to work, near where Brooks' body was found, and how it overwhelms her at times.

But she told Randle that she is her son's voice now.

"May the rest of your days be filled with fear ...," she said. "May your life in jail be full of pain and anguish."

Grandmother Barbara Wright, Blood's mother, stopped and turned to face Randle at the defense table as she walked to the witness stand.

"I want you to look at me," she said as she pointed to Randle, who mostly looked down as all three women spoke. She was admonished not to speak directly to Randle, then she proceeded to sit down.

Wright started by wondering how to even give a statement that could explain the brutality of Brooks' death and what Randle had put her family through.

"We are all affected by your actions," she said. "I will never understand how so much evil came into his life."

She spoke about what a wonderful grandson Brooks was, how he drove her to doctors' appointments in Monroe, about his sense of humor and how he'd show up at his house with half of his laundry for her to do while letting his mother do the other half.

She said Randle didn't love her grandson, despite her trial testimony.

"That was a lie," she said. "I never want you to say his name again."

She said the family never will have closure, that it was a word used too easily. But even though justice was served, she said "pain and heartbreak are always in every breath I take."

She told Randle she hoped that, one day, she would realize what she had done to Brooks' family and to her own.

Rita Blood, Brooks' paternal grandmother, said she's rarely at a loss for words but wondered how to compress her grandson's 27 years into her statement.

She called Randle, Lavalais and Veal "wicked, debased people who callously executed" her grandson. She spoke of Brooks' sense of humor, how he spent summers with her and her family at their Texas home and taught his siblings how to hunt and play games.

"He wasn't just an ATM, like you tried to use him," she said.

She said, as much as she missed her late husband, she was glad he wasn't alive to have experienced their grandson's murder. She said there always is an empty chair at their table and an empty space in their lives.

"There's only one reason Deven is not here with us, and that is you."

But Blood vowed that Brooks' family would use her grandson's name to help others and that people would know his name stands for good.

"You cannot kill good," she said.

She also asked how Randle could have done what she did when she is a mother.

"How does a woman who has birthed children kill another woman's child?" she asked, telling her she no longer gets to be called a mother because "it's a title of honor."

Blood said she had no compassion for any of the defendants, but did feel for Randle's family. She said Randle has sentenced them, too.

After the victim impact statements, Randle elected to speak. She stood at the defense table and looked ahead, saying she didn't kill Brooks but acknowledging that she was part of what happened.

She told her mother and Brooks' mother that she was sorry and that she knows she messed up both families. She said she was ready to be sentenced and hoped that, one day, everyone could forgive her.

As she continued, mumbling could be heard from some of those who packed the side of the courtroom with Brooks' family and supporters. Randle said she was sorry several times, and then said she didn't know what she could do.

"Shut up," someone whispered.

Randle's mother and other family members sitting on one row cried as she spoke. After she was finished, Randle's mother asked to speak.

Hall objected, calling it "highly inappropriate," as the woman walked to stand behind her daughter.

"This is the victim's day," said Hall.

Brooks' family walked out as the discussion continued, and Randle's mother sat down without speaking. The family returned to their seats before Koch pronounced the sentence.

"He was loved, clearly," said Koch, speaking about the family's recollections of Brooks. "I encourage you to cling to those memories."

"This is not closure for the family," she said, calling it a crime of callousness and telling Randle that she took advantage of Brooks' kindness.

A kidnapping charge against Randle in the Brooks case was dropped. Randle also had been arrested on unrelated charges of theft and first-degree rape, but Hall told Koch he was not going to bring formal charges in those cases.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Jamaria Randle called "monster" before sentencing in Deven Brooks' murder