The victim's friends and relatives are just relieved that justice has been served. Ricky David said, "He was just a wonderful human being and I had the pleasure of knowing him for real."
Ricky David drove up from Cincinnati looking for closure in the courtroom after his friend Darrell Murphy was stabbed to death last year. "I just don't know what he went through that fatal night," said David.
The crime happened June 3 on Ashwood Avenue in Dayton.
Police said Derrick Brooks, 49, stabbed Murphy to death during an argument.
Assistant Prosecutor Robert Deschler said "Our understanding is that the defendant belived that Mr. Murphy, our victim here, disrespected people in the house and took offence to that."
However, court officials said any rage Brooks had inside him that day, never showed its face in the courtroom.
The judge told Brooks, "In this courtroom you have conducted yourself very much as a gentlemen. You have been very cooperative."
Brooks' attorney Richard Skelton said, "Some people that I represent don't want to stand up to the plate and accept responsibility for their actions. Derrick Brooks did just that the very first time I met him."
Skelton and prosecutors recommended the imposed sentence of fifteen years to life for Brooks.
It was a sentence that did bring some closure to those people who knew the victim best.
Ricky David said, "I feel good to know for that action, there was a consequence behind that."
Derrick Brooks will be eligible for parole after serving the mandatory fifteen years behind bars.