HOUSTON -- A Harris County jury Friday afternoon delivered the maximum sentence to a man convicted of killing a 17-year-old girl last March when he was showing off with a loaded gun.
The jury convicted Robert Odom, 21, of manslaughter with just 30 minutes of deliberations on Thursday. The same jury took almost three hours to sentence Odom to the maximum 20 years allowed for the manslaughter conviction.
"We just believe that society has spoken that they will not tolerate alcohol and guns together," said Harris County Assistant District Attorney Jim Leitner.
A year ago this month, Odom held a teen party at his northwest Houston home. He admitted on the witness stand that he pulled a gun out of his back pocket in an attempt to show off. He still claims he did not know the gun was loaded. But he put it to the back of Allison Aubrecht's head and pulled the trigger.
When the jury returned its sentencing decision Odom stood emotionless, almost stunned. But Allie Aubrecht's family gasped with relief and had to be silenced by the judge.
After the sentencing at the Harris County Criminal Courthouse, Allie's mom talked to 11 News about their tortured year waiting for this trial, the daily ache for their lost daughter and the message they hoped the jury would send.
"The biggest lesson I want to tell these kids, alcohol and guns equal death," Allie's mom Lori Aubrecht said. "It sends a message to the community and to all the other kids who may be carelessly holding handguns and not paying attention to the fact that guns are lethal weapons. And they can kill and they can take lives."
There are other victims. Robert Odom's grandmother spoke with us after the verdict. Stooped and strugglng to navigate the courthouse hallways with a walker, she is fighting her own battle with cancer. She grieves for the grandson she lost today too.
"You know what's fair," she said refusing to give her name. "They think it's fair. But as a grandmother, what would you think?"
As for the message, the Aubrecht family hopes other teens might learn from Allie's death and the maximum 20 year sentence Odom received.
Lori Aubrecht coined a phrase she wants all teens to remember.
"And that saying that she came up with after Alli died was 'see a gun....run'," said Allie's father Robert Aubrecht. "Remember that phrase," he said.
And remember how alcohol, a gun and a young man's horrible choices took a 17-year-old girl's life.
