14-year-old sentenced to 26 years for shooting and killing a man at a Fort Worth grocery store

A 14-year-old teenager was sentenced to 26 years in prison for shooting a man outside a grocery store in Fort Worth last summer.

Eight months after the murder of 36-year-old Spencer Slavik, his friend Travis Dehorny still has questions.

“Every day I ask God why he sent someone to save me but I couldn’t save him,” Dehorny said Thursday. “I will miss Spencer to my last breath.”

Dehorney testified before Judge Alex Kim on Thursday when the judge accepted a plea agreement between the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office and lawyers for 14-year-old Fabian Adame in the murder of Slavik. Slavik was shot and killed around 7 a.m. on June 22, 2022 during an apparent robbery outside a Kroger grocery store in Camp Bowie West.

Adams, who was 13 at the time of the shooting, was sentenced Thursday to 26 years in prison by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD).

“In your case, it is possible that you will be transferred to the institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice,” Judge Kim told the teenager. “The minimum sentence in this case is three years. Because of your age, you may be released on parole and into society without seeing me again.”

This decision will depend on TJJD, Kim said. He warned that if Adams’ records indicate that he has not been properly exonerated and remains dangerous, he will remain in TJJD custody until the next hearing before he turns 19.

“If I feel that you have been exonerated, no matter how serious the wrongdoing is. I release children on parole even for crimes like capital murder because they are no longer a danger,” said Kim. “Those who continue to pose a danger, in my opinion, because they did not take advantage of the services we offer, I will gladly transfer them to the adult prison system to serve the remainder of your sentence. It is possible that you will be in prison until the age of 40.th birthday.”

Spencer Slavik’s family was in the courtroom when Kim accepted the deal on Thursday. Slavik’s mother Tammy said the last eight months have been painful.

“I cry before going to bed at night. I can’t find comfort, Tammy said. “I don’t think the pain will ever go away. Honestly, no”.

Spencer was the middle child of three siblings. His family lives in Springtown.

“He was a handsome, handsome boy. He just genuinely cared and loved people. He didn’t deserve this. No way,” Tammy said. “I miss his laugh. He had this unique laugh. He had such beauty. I mean, when he walked into the room, it was larger than life.”

Dehorni met Slavik in 2019 and said that getting to know him was one of the greatest privileges of his life.

“Spencer is the reason I stand before all of you today because I was at the door, at the gate of suicide,” he said. “But still I met him once and we were friends.”

Dehorney also expressed words of grace to Adam’s family.

“You have nothing to do with taking his life, but someone you are connected to has something to do with it. I wish you well, he said.

Adam’s grandmother Kelly Basham said their family is also suffering.

“Everything we say, everything we do, will never, ever be good enough. It won’t bring them [Slavik] son returned. This pain is very real. He’s there,” Basham said. “Nothing we say or do will ever give them peace. I hope it brings some, just to know that we are deeply, deeply sorry.”

Adam’s mother Jessica Norris shared a statement on her son’s behalf following Thursday’s trial.

“He is a very loving child, although the situation may not seem like that, but he is. He cares. It really is,” Norris said. “He wanted to apologize, but he couldn’t do it in court today.”

Under the agreement, the right to appeal was abolished. There are 14 people currently in the Tarrant County Juvenile Correctional Facility facing murder charges, county officials said.

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