Man found guilty of killing teenager in botched robbery over Yeezy shoes. Chaos broke out

Adrian Cosby was largely stone-faced Friday as Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Miguel M. de la O read a jury verdict that found him guilty of murdering a high school teenager back in four years ago during a botched robbery.

He began to shake slightly when the father of Andrea Camps-Lacayo, the 18-year-old he was convicted of murdering, began to speak during the sentencing phase.

And chaos erupted in the 4-1 Miami-Dade Criminal Courtroom as Alex Camps turned to Cosby, called him a “monster,” then blamed his actions on his upbringing.

“What the hell are you talking about,” was one of the few things Cosby said before about four Miami-Dade correctional facilities and law enforcement officers managed to subdue him as he tried to reach Camps and to pass over a low wall behind him, where the family. and the friends had stayed.

READ MORE: Chaos erupts in courtroom after man convicted of murdering teenage girl lunges at her father

By then, everyone in the courtroom was on their feet. Some were moving for cover. Others, angered by the verdict and Camps’ speech, shouted at him and rushed out of the courtroom. About 20 minutes later, once order was restored, from O read his sentence. Cosby had not returned.

Life for killing Andrea Camps-Lacayo. Life for the attempted murder of her boyfriend Sergio Berben. And 25 years for the attempted strong-arm robbery of the teenage couple who were students at the Terra Environmental Research Institute in West Kendall.

“I told you last time that I can’t do you justice,” said O to the family. “This is a tragedy for everyone. They lost their son and you lost your daughter. And I can’t do anything for anybody.”

The jury said Cosby fired the fatal shot

Jurors took less than two hours to decide that Cosby, 22, fired the bullet that killed Camps-Lacayo during a botched attempt to steal three pairs of rare sneakers and dear from her boyfriend Berben in Homestead four years ago. Cosby is the second defendant in the case to be found guilty. In February, George Oshane Walton, 24, was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the murder.

READ MORE: ‘You robbed us forever’, mother of girl killed in sneaker robbery tells killer

Jurors learned that Berben, through a friend, agreed to meet a man named Eric Readon, who would buy three pairs of Yeezys – a joint venture between rap superstar Kanye West and Addidas – for $935. Berben, a sneakerhead, had been making extra money since middle school by selling sneakers on the black market through an Instagram account.

Until that day on April 7, 2020, Berben and Readon still hadn’t agreed on where to meet, so Berben took Camps-Lacayo to breakfast.

While they were eating, Berben’s phone rang. It was Readon, telling him to meet in a Homestead subdivision. So Berben drove off in his white Jeep Wrangler, Camps-Lacayo in the passenger seat. Once the couple entered the gated community, they again spoke to Readon, who told them to park in front of an abandoned house down the street.

Berben told jurors he was holding one pair of shoes and his girlfriend the other two when Walton appeared in Readon’s place. They started talking through the driver’s side window. Walton never showed a gun or tried to steal the shoes.

But as they talked, Berben said, he noticed through his side mirror that Cosby was walking toward the Jeep from behind. When Cosby reached Walton, he opened fire, hitting Berben first in the left arm, the bullet exiting and hitting Camps-Lacayo in the stomach.

Berben got in the Jeep and ran outside the complex, where she called 911. Camps-Lacayo passed out while holding a towel to her gunshot wound and listening to the 911 operator’s instructions.

The defense said Cosby was not the shooter

During closing arguments Friday, defense attorney Dustin Tischler pressed jurors about the lack of physical and forensic evidence produced at trial and said Berben was wrong to identify Cosby as the shooter.

He showed jurors how easy it is to make mistakes in a tense situation, pointing out that he initially told police that Walton was wearing a black shirt when he was wearing a white hoodie on the day of the shooting.

“This was an unspeakable tragedy. Andrea was a beautiful, beautiful girl and she had her whole life ahead of her,” Tischler said during closing arguments. “But he (Berben) made a mistake in that brief second or two that the firearm was produced and fired. He said it was Cosby.

In rebuttal, Miami-Dade Assistant State’s Attorney Sara Imm said she found it unbelievable that the defense would expect jurors to believe that Cosby, who had been with Walton earlier and was with him again after the murder, had accidentally showed up at the Jeep when Camps-Lacayo was killed.

“The video (grainy and from a distance) clearly shows you which person has the firearm,” she said.

After closing and before the eruption, Alex Camps put an arm around Berben and told him his family loved him.

“We want you to know that nothing that happened that day is your fault,” Camps said, speaking to Berben. “It’s really the fault of three monsters.”