Paralyzed boy to gunman: "I forgive you"

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The 12-year-old boy paralyzed by a robber's stray bullet as he was taking a piano lesson in Oakland last year had a message for the gunman June 16: "I forgive you."

Christopher Rodriguez (pictured) delivered his words after rolling in his wheelchair to the front of the Oakland courtroom where Jared Adams, 26, had just been sentenced to 70 years to life in prison. Then he shook the convicted man's hand.

"I don't know where that came from," Christopher's mother, Jennifer Rodriguez, said later. "We didn't talk about it or plan it. It came from within himself."

Judge Larry Goodman was in a less charitable mood, handing Adams the stiff sentence for wounding Christopher and committing other crimes 18 months ago that left him with a dozen felony convictions. The crime binge included the carjacking at gunpoint of then-state Senate leader and current Oakland mayoral candidate Don Perata.

"In Mr. Adams' world, there are simply victims and predators, and when they see something they want, they take it," Goodman said in sentencing Adams in Alameda County Superior Court.

He called Adams a parasite in a city where residents are frustrated with violence. Then he read out all of Adams' convictions and their corresponding sentences, a process that took more than 15 minutes.

A jury concluded in March that a drunken Adams fired three shots during a gas station robbery Jan. 10, 2008, across the street from the Harmony Road Music School along Oakland's busy and normally safe Piedmont Avenue corridor. One of the shots penetrated the school's wall and severed Christopher's spine.

Adams and his girlfriend, Maeve Clifford, fled from the shooting in a stolen Ford Mustang, but they were arrested moments later when they crashed.

Clifford, 20, testified against Adams as part of a plea bargain and is expected to be sentenced to six years in prison on July 30.

Tuesday's hearing began with Christopher directly addressing Adams. The boy, a budding wheelchair basketball player, had freshly buzzed hair and wore a black vest over a dark blue pinstriped shirt, while Adams sat a few feet away in a red jailhouse jumpsuit.

"I know it wasn't your intention to shoot me, but remember - actions always have consequences," Christopher said. "Two of the bullets almost hit my mom. You could have killed my piano teacher, other students, yourself, your girlfriend and just normal people nearby."

Adams dabbed at his eyes. Later, he made his own statement, saying, "There's not a day that goes by that I don't look in the mirror and hate myself."

Adams then turned to look at Christopher and his mother, who had been sitting in her car outside the music school when bullets pierced her fender and shattered one of her windows. He said, "I am sorry for what I have done."

Prosecutor Nancy O'Malley, however, said Adams had never shown "real remorse" for shooting Christopher and for committing his other crimes - only regret and embarrassment that he had been caught. She noted that Adams had immediately asked the police officer who chased him down and arrested him, "Can we make a deal? I have information."

Judge Goodman agreed, saying Adams had lied on the witness stand at his trial in an effort to avoid consequences and was crying "crocodile tears."

Any tears shed by Adams, the judge said, "were shed by a self-centered, unrepentant criminal who is truly sorry for only one thing: that he didn't quite make it to that freeway."

Among Adams' other crimes was his brandishing of a handgun at Perata on Dec. 29, 2007, as the politician waited for a light to change in North Oakland. Adams ordered Perata out of his red, state-issued Dodge Charger - which the gunman targeted for the 22-inch rims on its wheels - before fleeing.

O'Malley said Adams - who had faced a maximum sentence of 95 years to life - would not be eligible for parole for at least 60 years. He was also ordered to pay nearly $130,000 to Christopher, his mother and four other victims.

After the sentencing hearing was over, Christopher rolled up to Adams and spoke to him. Jennifer Rodriguez quoted her son as asking Adams in a soft voice, "I'm curious - why did you want to rob that place that day?"

Adams, she said, appeared to be taken aback, and asked Christopher to repeat himself before responding, "Poor choices, poor choices." Then, she said, her son extended a hand and told Adams, who met his grasp, that he forgave him.

Jennifer Rodriguez said her son, who is heading into the seventh grade at Oakland School for the Arts, still plays piano but has developed an interest in producing and staging shows. She said he continues to work aggressively with therapists and can move his left leg slightly.

"There's always hope," she said. She added that Christopher doesn't dream about walking - only running.

She explained, "He's a kid."