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| Activist Devon Normand, wearing a suit, of The Village 337 flanked by family and supporters of 11-year-old girl during April 16 post-hearing conference. Photo: Albi Muhammad |
Little Milan, the Black girl incarcerated at 11 years old in the fatal shooting of a 36-year-old White man Kamaran Bedsole, still languishes in a juvenile detention center in St. Martin Parish, Louisiana. (See The Final Call Vol. 43 No. 26, No. 30 and No. 33)
Half of that time will be in custody and the other on probation. Judge Roger Hamilton, Jr. sentenced her in May 2024, but family and activists continue to work for her release.
According to Milan’s eldest sister, Ah’Shiriya Washington, Milan’s academic performance has improved. “She’s doing well. Her grades are amazing. Right now, we’re just waiting on her hearing to see how everything can go,” she told The Final Call. Milan’s last hearing was in December, Ms. Washington said.
“I actually spoke to her last week,” said Angela Kately Eaglin, vice president of The Village 337, a collective of young leaders based in Lafayette, Louisiana. “She’s adjusting well to the environment that she’s in.”
Milan was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and accessory to murder charges in Mr. Bedsole’s death in November 2023. The child is expected to testify against her 15-year-old brother, who was also charged with 1st-degree murder and has been held in Jackson Parish Juvenile Detention Center since his arrest on Dec. 5.
Also on Dec. 5, police arrested their 40-year-old mother, Sabrina Washington, 40. She was being held in Iberia Parish Jail on $400,000 bond for two counts of accessory after the fact. But Milan’s sentence was shocking to many.
“That sentence that she had gotten, the seven years, obviously hit us all like a ton of bricks. But we never believed she would do the whole seven years, and we still don’t believe it. Our prayer is that she’ll be released much sooner than the seven years, and we’re hoping for soon, maybe this year,” Ms. Eaglin said.
She said their fight is behind the scenes, as well as protesting at the courthouse, the juvenile detention center or at the Sheriff’s Station in Iberia.
In addition, Ms. Eaglin said they have submitted to Milan’s attorney, Ron Haley, a list of names from community members and church members who are willing to take her in if her family is not deemed to be fit at the time of her release.
“She has somewhere to go that’s safe and stable when that time comes, but overall, she’s doing better than what we expected, despite the circumstances,” she added.
Meanwhile, they are also working to get Milan’s mother and brother resources and work for their release.
“We are right now, very optimistic, and we believe in helping the entire family,” Ms. Eaglin said, adding, “just holistically treat the whole family.”
“We’re not naive as to how Milan got into this situation, and that’s an internal issue that we deal with in the Black community, outside of the public eye. But it is something that we’re working on,” she said. As for Milan’s brother, they are seeking the assistance of organizations that focus on incarcerated children, Ms. Eaglin said.
Ah’Shiriya Washington said the family is preparing for a long ride, waiting for their mother and baby brother’s cases to start. “The dates that we did have, they keep pushing them back so much, I don’t know when they’re going to start.
I’ve really, really been feeling like they’re going to try to hold them the maximum amount of time before they take them to trial. They’re trying to gather evidence to make something stick; at least that’s what it is looking like from my standpoint,” she said.
There is more to the case than meets the eye, added Ms. Eaglin.
“If anyone that’s going to read this article thinks that it’s just, ‘Oh, they did a crime, they picked them up, they threw them in jail. That’s just how it goes.’ No! They did their homework. They knew that these people were poor, undereducated, had been in the system … they knew all these things, and they knew they were going to get railroaded,” she stated.
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