One of the men accused of beating Bobby Tillman to death at a Douglasville party in 2010 may have saved his own life by pleading guilty to murder Tuesday.
Under an agreement with the state, Emanuel Boykins pleaded guilty to killing Tillman and was sentenced to life in prison with the opportunity for parole after 30 years, according to wsbtv.com.
Boykins is one of , 18, in November 2010.
District Attorney David McDade in June that , he intended to seek the death penalty. Tracen Franklin still faces that possibility, while , 18, don't.
Tillman's family, led by his mother, Monique Rivarde, filled the courtroom jury box Tuesday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
“Bobby was a good, innocent 18-year-old boy,” Rivarde said through tears, WSB showed. “He was such a good child. … He was truly an angel.”
McDade has said Boykins on Tillman, who, at 5-foot-6 and 125 pounds, was much smaller than his attackers, the AJC reported.
Boykins told the court Tuesday: “I want to apologize. … I take full responsibility for what I did that night.”
On the night of the attack, two teenage girls were throwing a party to celebrate good grades, and their small party turned into a large one at which fights broke out.
Rivarde said her son asked for permission to go to the party after attending a church event on bullying, the AJC said. Rivarde and her two children had moved to Douglasville from Los Angeles five months earlier.
