Teen Gets Maximum in Slaying on S.I.

By BILL FARRELL
Daily News Staff Writer

Police Officer Gerard Carter's mother sobbed quietly in the Staten Island courtroom yesterday while her son was remembered as a hero — and the 18-year-old who murdered him was sentenced to serve at least 25 years in prison.

Too emotional even to speak, Martha Carter and other members of the Carter family had prosecutor David Lehr read a letter to Supreme Court Justice Stephen Rooney before Shatiek Johnson was sentenced.

Johnson was convicted of killing Carter in July 1998 as the officer tried to serve him with a warrant outside the West Brighton Houses.

"Remember Gerard for the good he has done. Remember him not as a person who was killed in the line of duty, but as a father, a son, a brother, and most of all as a friend," Lehr read to a courtroom packed with Carter's fellow officers.

At the defense table, a silent Johnson, convicted Dec. 2, stared unblinking as Lehr read that family members cannot yet bring themselves to forgive the teenager who killed the father of 7-year-old Luis Carter.

"It is hard to forgive when — day after day — we have to look into a little boy's sweet, innocent eyes and see the pain instead of the usual glow...," the statement said.

"He is the one who lost his 'dadda.'"

Johnson, who had a previous manslaughter conviction in the beating death of a man when he was a juvenile, is also awaiting trial in the killing of a rival gang member 10 days before Carter was shot.

The judge also noted Johnson has been charged in the assault of a correction officer while awaiting trial.

"This record, of violence especially by one so young, is breathtaking," said Rooney. He then sentenced Johnson to 25 years to life, the maximum sentence for a 17-year-old killer.

Those who packed the courtroom burst into applause as court officers led Johnson away.

Outside, Martha Carter praised prosecutors and police for their support and work and said Johnson should never be allowed to go free.

"He was let out before after killing one man and he goes and kills two more," she said. "He has no remorse, he doesn't care what he does. He is a menace to society."