CHARLESTON, W.Va – Barack Williams could spend life behind bars after a jury found the 15-year-old guilty of felony murder in connection with the 2024 robbery that left Caden Martin, a 19-year-old clerk at a vape shop in Charleston, dead.
Williams, who was tried as an adult, sat before Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers Monday afternoon as she read the jury’s verdict.
“We the jury find the defendant, Barack Howard Williams, guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of felony murder during the commission of a first-degree robbery,” Judge Akers said from the bench.
The automatic sentence for Williams is life in prison with the possibility of parole in 15 years.
Monday marked the end of an emotional trial, which nearly reached a boiling point when Judge Akers received a note from the jury that stated the foreman had become irate and threatening. The judge allowed the jury a break for lunch following her receipt of the note, and a verdict was reached around 2:30 pm, shortly after the jury reconvened.
Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney Debra Rusnak said that once the jury returned to deliberate, they completed their task and brought what she felt was justice.
“The judge sent the jury back after lunch, and they were able to proceed through deliberations and reach a verdict today. Obviously, that verdict was guilty, and we are certainly glad that we can bring justice to the family of Caden Martin,” she said.
Williams served as the lookout during the January 2024 robbery in which Bre’juan Williams-Hampton held Martin at gunpoint to steal vapes and money from Tobacco and Pipe in north Charleston before fatally shooting him with a handgun. The merchandise and gun were later found by police inside a dryer in Williams’ garage, while the wrappers from ice cream bars Williams took from the store were found on the garage’s floor.
Williams-Hampton, who pleaded guilty to his charges and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in September 2024, testified during the trial that he and Williams planned the robbery together.
Rusnak called it a “sad reality” that the two teenagers will spend the majority of their lives in prison but also said the result is what her office sets out to do.
“My office strives every day to make sure that we are bringing justice and that we are doing the right thing in every case. That being said, I think that happened today. I think the family of Caden Martin got the justice that they deserve,” she said.
In addition to Martin’s murder, the Charleston Police Department concluded that Williams and Williams-Hampton were involved in two other incidents in the nine days prior to the robbery, according to testimony during the trial by CPD detective Jonathan Hill.
Rusnak does not believe this case is a sign of increasing juvenile crime but called on parents to make sure their children do not fall into the same behaviors.
“Please watch your children. Please make sure that you are telling them, ‘Do the right thing,’ every day and that you’re not lending any sort of credence to this type of behavior,” she said.
A disposition hearing is scheduled for October 8.