CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A Mecklenburg County man faces up to 28 years in prison after pleading guilty to second degree murder.

  • Dionte Hunter was killed summer of 2017
  • Steven Black faces up to 28 years in prison
  • Authorities say Black fired shots into Hunter's vehicle after a disagreement          

Steven Black pleaded guilty to killing 17-year-old Dionte Hunter back in the summer of 2017. Silence filled the court room Thursday as the family spoke directly to the man responsible for his death

 “I hope it settles in your soul what you have done. And all for what? Forty dollars, you took my son's life for 40 d— dollars,” Hunter’s mother Autumn Conely said.

“I know for a fact the same $40 you took his life for, you planned to rob him of. I know that you had an accomplice that brought Devo to you, and I know you already had your mind set on your actions that night,” Hunter’s aunt Antisha Taylor said.

Prosecutors say Hunter met up with Black near Monroe Road last year on July 24. After a disagreement, Black shot into the car Hunter was driving multiple times. A few days later, Hunter died from his injuries.

“I honestly hope you never make it out, because someone with that reckless of a soul should not be allowed back in society,” Conely said.

As Hunter's family watched the proceedings in the courtroom, so did Black's.

"They know their own son has taken responsibility for these actions, but they want the community to know that this was a drug deal gone bad,” attorney Dean Loven said.

Black's grandmother, who wished to remain anonymous, said listening to the words from Hunter's family was almost too much to handle.

"For them to wish death on my grandson, that is just totally wrong. That is disrespectful to his family. We didn’t want anyone in their family to be dead. So, why did they have to get up? Why did the judge allow them to get up and say what they said? That was just so wrong,” she said.

As for the rest of Black's family, they say not just one life was lost because of drugs, but two lives, and families have been destroyed. The judge commended the family of Dionte Hunter for coming forward and addressing Steven Black. She then sentenced Black to 22 to 28 years in prison.

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