Raleigh teen sentenced for his role in violent home invasions

Shabar Master Marshall, 17, pleaded guilty March 5 to more than a dozen charges in connection with the crimes, in which authorities say he and his 27-year-old brother held two married couples at gunpoint in the middle of the night while robbing them of money and other valuables.

Marshall admitted to five charges, including first-degree kidnapping and robbery with a firearm, in a Dec. 30, 2012, home invasion on Sherry Drive. In that case, authorities say, the brothers left the couple handcuffed to their bed before fleeing with valuables that included a silver .25-caliber Raven pistol.

That gun, according to investigators, was used in a home invasion eight days later on East Lane Street, in which Marshall sexually assaulted the woman and his brother shot her husband in the back, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

"I really want to apologize to the victims, and I regret what I did every day," Marshall – already serving eight to 12 years for a similar Dec. 11, 2012, home invasion – told Superior Court Judge Henry Hight. "I don't expect to try to get off or try to get away with something. I did something wrong, and I understand I get punished for it."

The victims of the crimes weren't present for the sentencing, and they could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.

Hight sentenced Marshall to 178 to 224 years in prison for all 15 charges – including attempted first-degree murder, first-degree sexual offense, attempted first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping and robbery with a dangerous weapon.

The sentences will run concurrently with the most serious charge of first-degree sexual offense, which carried a prison sentence of 26.5 to 32.75 years.

Marshall's brother, Jahaad Marshall, was convicted last week of the same charges as well as those connected to two burglaries in the weeks prior to the home invasions. Jahaad Marshall is serving 263 years in prison for the crimes.

In asking the judge for leniency, defense attorney George Kelly said Marshall's childhood was troubled since age 2, when Marshall's father shot and wounded his mother and then fled with him.

Josie Van Dyke, a mitigation sentencing specialist, testified that Marshall was shuffled through the foster care system in South Carolina and spent time in group homes while his father was in prison. In 2007, Marshall was hospitalized after trying to kill himself, Van Dyke said.

She also said the teen appeared to be genuinely sorry for what he had done.

"He said to me: 'It's really not about me at this point. These victims are never going to get over what I've done. They're going to live with this every day for the rest of their lives, and I don't want to put them through anymore.'" Van Dyke said. "I've never heard that from a defendant that young with the people I've worked with."

Tameshala Wilkerson, whose oldest son was a friend of Marshall's, said the teen was staying with his brother in a hotel room after his father punished him for having bad grades. He often stayed with her on the weekends and had been at her home for about three days for Christmas 2012.

"Shabar didn't know where to go to. I wasn't going to let him just run the street," Wilkerson said.

She testified that she had been working out a plan and was ready for Marshall to come stay with her and her family when he was arrested.

"Shabar was a very pleasant young man. He was very mannerable – a funny guy," Wilkerson said.