Teen offers an apology to murder victim’s kin
A judge has sentenced a 17-year-old to 25 years in prison in the 2021 shooting death of a man in Delray Beach who the teen said once was his friend.
Dieukenson Mirtil of Delray Beach pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree murder with a firearm and to one count of armed robbery in the May 19, 2021, killing of 21-year-old Johnson St. Louis. Mirtil was 15 at the time of St. Louis’ death.
During a hearing Thursday, Feb. 29, at the Palm Beach County Courthouse, Circuit Judge Scott Suskauer ordered Mirtil to serve concurrent 25-year sentences on each count and credited him with two years and nine months of time served in the county jail.
Mirtil briefly addressed the court, apologizing to St. Louis’ mother and brother, who were both present.
“Truly, I’m sorry for what I’ve done. Wizy was my best friend at one point,” he said, referring to St. Louis by his nickname. “I never wanted things to go down the way that they did. I just hope they can forgive me one day for the things I’ve done.”
Delray Beach police said Mirtil shot St. Louis after an apparent dispute in which St. Louis demanded the return of personal items.
Officers responded that night to the 800 block of Southeast Second Avenue and found St. Louis lying in the roadway and suffering from gunshot wounds to his leg and abdomen. He slipped in and out of consciousness but was able to identify his attacker as “DK” before he died at Delray Medical Center, police said.
Police identified Mirtil as a suspect. An administrator at Boca Raton High School, where Mirtil was a