Former Grady High School Student Athlete Pleads Guilty To Murder, Gets 16 Years

A former William E. Grady High School student pleaded guilty Monday and accepted a sentence of 16-to-life for the murder of a Coney Island man, the New York Daily News reports.

Jalik Banks, a who played on Grady High School’s football and basketball teams, was arrested in October, 2014 for the murder of 23-year-old George Carmona, who was found a month earlier in the hallway of the Sea Park Apartments at 2980 West 28th Street with a gunshot wound to his head.

Banks, who was 19 years old at the time of his arrest, lived a few blocks away in the in the Surfside Houses.

Banks’ lawyer said his client began plotting the murder after Carmona shot at him and threatened kill him, according to the Daily News. The lawyer explained that Banks, who did not have a criminal record prior to this case, felt he could not turn to the police for help.

After his arrest, Banks made videotaped statements to law-enforcement admitting that he planned the attack, authorities told the newspaper.

Had Banks turned down the plea offer, he would have faced a maximum sentence of 25 years to life behind bars. He is expected to be formally sentenced in January, the Daily News reports.