Teen pleads to manslaughter in group home beating death

A teen with no criminal record, whose mother said he never belonged in the group home where he eventually killed someone, pleaded guilty Wednesday to voluntary manslaughter.

As part of the plea agreement, Yusuf Shepard, 17, will serve five to 10 years in prison, as well as five years of probation.

Yusuf pleaded guilty to killing Nicholas Grant, 16, at the former Circle C Youth and Family Services home in Carrick.

Assistant district attorney Melissa Hong-Barco told Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning that her office agreed to voluntary manslaughter in the case because Yusuf had an unreasonable belief that he was in danger of death or bodily injury at the time of the fight with Nicholas, who died Jan. 13, 2015.

According to the prosecutor, Yusuf and Nicholas had a fight on Jan. 10, 2015, which initially had broken up. Nicholas then threw a vacuum cleaner at Yusuf and another resident, Malik Crosby. That reignited the fight, and Ms. Hong-Barco said that Yusuf put Nicholas in a chokehold, and Malik then started punching and stomping.

A worker at the home told the boys that Nicholas was turning blue and purple, but they did not

stop.

Defense attorney Al Burke said Yusuf is remorseful for his actions and never intended to kill the victim.

“He was not acting in concert with Malik Crosby,” Mr. Burke said.

Malik still has motions pending before Judge Manning.

Nicholas’ mother, Leslie Grant, wrote a letter to the court in which she said she wanted to tell her son’s story.

She said that he had several mental health diagnoses, including oppositional defiance disorder, bipolar disorder, depression and borderline personality disorder.

Nicholas’ anger and aggression, Ms. Grant wrote, was primarily directed toward her, and at one point, it became clear that it would be unsafe for him to return to her home.

At the urging of a mental health professional, she filed a protection from abuse order against her son, and he went to live with his father. However, the father had an outstanding warrant from Virginia, and after his arrest, Ms. Grant wrote, her son ended up at Circle C.

“I want everyone to know that Nick was not placed into Circle C because he did something wrong,” she wrote. “He needed a safe place to sort things out after his father had been arrested on that outstanding warrant.”

At Circle C, she said, he endured “heinous torture and abuses,” including having his shoes filled with urine.

While there, though, her son still passed a test for a food service certification program. He was loved by his church members and pastors, and shoveled his neighbor’s sidewalk and parking space without being asked.

“There is no document that talks about Nick’s sense of humor, or his compassion for others, or his kindness,” she wrote. “He wanted to be tough, he wanted to fit in wherever he went, but he was soft, and sweet, and thoughtful.”

She urged Yusuf and Malik to learn from what has happened.

“My hope is for something positive to come out of this,” Ms. Grant wrote. “Turn it around and do something good, not just in your own lives, but for others, as well.

“Don’t let this be a senseless act of violence.”

Tiffany Colton, Yusuf’s mother, told Judge Manning that in December 2014, she and her family were moving to Texas, but her son asked to remain in Pittsburgh to finish the basketball season. She allowed him to remain behind and stay with his uncle.

But at some point, she said, social services declared that he had been abandoned, and ordered him to Circle C, Ms. Colton said.

He was supposed to have a hearing on the issue on Jan. 14.

“If he had left with us, he wouldn’t have been here to do any harm to anyone’s child or be in that horrible place,” Ms. Colton said.