There was a hit-and-run accident in Milwaukee that killed a 47-year-old woman driving her own car. A 16-year-old boy from Milwaukee was sent to prison for his part in the accident.
Sunita Balogun-Olayiwola was killed when Jayden Adams, who was 13 at the time, drove the car that hit her. The accident happened near a Wauwatosa hotel. He was charged as an adult with murder.
A hearing on June 18 heard Adams’s plea of guilty to two felony counts of second-degree reckless homicide and taking a car without permission. Adams was given a sentence of 15 years in prison, starting in a juvenile corrections facility and ending in an adult prison. He was also given 10 years of extra supervision after his release.
Adams’s public defenders asked the judge to take into account the defendant’s youth and how much he has grown since being arrested in 2021 and being held in jail for more than three years.
Adams said he would live with the consequences of the charges against him for the rest of his life when he turned himself in for his sentence.
Adams said in a prepared statement, “I am truly sorry for the harm I have caused to the victim’s family.” “I understand now that even a brief lack of thought can have lasting effects.”
Adams is the only one who has been charged in adult court.
An arrest report says that around 2 a.m. on October 14, 2021, Adams and a group of young teens tried to steal a car from the parking lot of the Wauwatosa Holiday Inn Express.
At Adams’ hearing on June 18, prosecutor Grant Huebner said that Balogun-Olayiwola tried to stop the teens from stealing, even though he was deaf and couldn’t talk. Huebner said she got out of her car to talk to the group, but Adams jumped into the driver’s seat of Balogun-Olayiwola’s car. Adams seems to have put the car in reverse and started to drive. She then fell under the wheel and was killed by the car.
Adams and the other people then got into her car and drove off.
Of the four teens who were arrested that night, Adams was the youngest. However, he was the only one who would be charged as an adult.
Three of the kids were taken to juvenile court. Two of them were given one-year supervision orders, and the other was put in the Milwaukee County Accountability Program, which is a type of juvenile detention that focuses on therapy and education, for one year.
Adams, on the other hand, was charged with six felonies. If he were found guilty, he could have spent up to 115 years in prison. As part of the plea deal that both sides agreed to this month, those charges were changed or dropped.
The victim was remembered as a “vibrant lady.”
Balogun-Olayiwola’s brother and two daughters talked about how strong she was and how hard it was to lose her at the hearing. The immigrant from Nigeria was called a kind and loving woman who “never let anything put her down.”
During the hearing, the judge and lawyers called her by her first name, Sunita, because they had trouble pronouncing her last names.
Balogun-Olayiwola’s brother, Deen Balogun, said that reports of his youngest sister’s death show that she was trying to do “the right thing” by talking to the teens, including Adams.
Based on what I read, she was only trying to tell them that what they were doing was wrong, which is what the incident was about, Balogun said. „She wasn’t there to hurt them or harm them; she was only there to help them through a situation, which is what killed her.
Balogan talked about how much his family believed in God, which made him forgive Adams. He also said he hoped Adams would forgive him.
Ogechi Duruaku, Balogan-Olayiwola’s daughter, talked about her mother’s early life in Nigeria. She was good at boxing, track and field, and other sports. It was common for her to listen to music. To give her daughters a better life, she finally moved to the United States.
Dukuaku said, “She lit up every corner of every room she went into.” “My mom would never hurt anyone, not even a child.” I still don’t understand how we got here today.
Before Adams’s plea hearing, members of Enough is Enough—A Legacy for Erin, a group that fights against careless driving, sent a letter to the judge asking them to give Balogun-Olayiwola a sentence that fits her. The group added her death notice to the letter.
It asked the judge to think about the “health and safety” of the neighborhood when deciding the sentence. It was called a “Petition from Milwaukee County Residents.”
Defense lawyers stress Adams’ need for more time in custody
Adams’ lawyers asked the judge to think about how much the defendant has grown since he was arrested in 2021.
Arial Rosenberg, Jayden’s lawyer, said, “He has taken every chance to improve himself, proving — mainly to himself — that he is a capable, intelligent, and hardworking young man.”
Adams told the judge in his own statement that he had just finished 11th grade with all A’s while in detention and that he got a 19 on the ACT. He said that getting his high school diploma and becoming more involved with his faith are two of his short-term goals.
Adams’ school counselor said in a letter to the judge that while Adams was in jail, he was “consistently respectful, kind, and thoughtful,” and that he did very well in school even though he was in detention.
Adams’ lawyers said he also worked with the Rev. Joseph Ellwanger of the Milwaukee Inner City Congregations Allied for Hope to help other young people who were involved with the adult justice system.
The defense lawyers said it would be bad for Adams’ future in society for him to spend his “emerging adulthood” years (from 18 to 25 years old) in an adult prison. A lawyer named Kathryn Holtz said that he would be in a prison with people who are “not trained in the continuum of adolescent development” and people who are inmates who have broken the law and been found guilty as adults.
Taking into account the time he had already spent in juvenile detention, Adams’ lawyers suggested that he only be locked up for 58 months and released on his 18th birthday, so the young defendant would not have to go through adult prison.
When giving the sentence, the judge said that Wisconsin’s prison system has some problems.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge David Swanson said, “We don’t put enough money into our youth, both in schools and in jails.” “Those systems aren’t going where they should be, but they’re the only ones the court can count on to help me do my job.”
Adams was given an initial prison sentence of 10 years for reckless homicide, which he has already served three years and eight months of. Then he will get another five years in prison for the charge of forcefully stealing a car, but he can apply for an early release program that might cut that second sentence short. Adams will be closely watched for ten years after he gets out of jail.
The judge made Adams write a letter of apology to Balogun-Olayiwola’s family as part of of his sentence.
All 17-year-old defendants are charged as adults in Wisconsin, which is one of only a few states that does this. State law also says that kids as young as 10 must be charged as adults for some very serious crimes.
