Edison HS football player's killer punished, forgiven

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Untapped potential and unwanted consequences were the focus Tuesday as a young man was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of an Edison High School football player.

Marquis Sutton was shot to death two years ago, during his senior season, just as he may have been on the verge of greatness.

Runs like one you see on YouTube got the Edison High School senior on the radar at college football programs and his mom says he was all set to go to college at San Diego State -- until Terrance Lee violently snatched that future from him.

"Your actions stole my son's hopes, stole his dreams," Suttoon's mother, Sherri Wise, said to Lee.

When Sutton stopped at his apartment to grab a drink, Lee loaded a revolver with a single bullet, spun the cylinder, aimed at Sutton, and pulled the trigger twice. On the second pull, he killed the 18-year-old.

Witnesses say Lee dragged the body out in front of the Ashmark Arms apartment complex and tried to get them to say it was a drive-by shooting. Two years later, he owned up it.

"I want to apologize to the family for what took place," Lee said Tuesday.

He also tried to explain the smiles and smirks Sutton's family saw on his face during his trial. He says it's all he can do to keep from crying. But he knows the pain he inflicted on them is far worse.

"I know y'all hurt and I can't change the way y'all are feeling, but I'm truly sorry," he said. "I just ask that y'all have forgiveness on me."

"I forgive you," Wise said, granting her son's killer forgiveness.

Her mother wanted to make sure Lee got a good look at some pictures of Sutton so he'd forever remember what he'd done and to whom.

Wise has the same pictures on her phone, her memories of her son's big dreams confined to a small screen.

"This is where I see my son when I'm hurting and when I'm in pain," she said, referring to the phone. "But he can't talk back."

Lee will serve 40 years in prison before he's eligible for parole when he's in his early sixties.