There was both remorse and forgiveness in Niagara County Court Judge John Ottaviano’s courtroom Tuesday morning.
Remorse, and acceptance from Dennis D. Parson as he prepared to head to state prison for the murder of Jaylan McWilson. Forgiveness for Parson from the McWilson family.
“I just spoke about being forgiving,” Howard McWilson, Jaylan’s father, said of his remarks to Ottaviano prior to Parson’s sentencing. “I told him, we forgive the defendant. But no crime should go unpunished, especially murder.”
Parson, 20, of Buffalo, told the McWilson family, sitting in the courtroom, that he apologized for his “irresponsible actions.”
“I’m just ready to do my time,” he said.
His defense attorney, Paul Dell, told Ottaviano that McWilson’s slaying was “an absolute tragedy.” He said the murder, “changed the lives of two families.”
“(Parson) apologizes to the victim’s family and appreciates their words (of forgiveness),” Dell said. “He takes full responsibility. My client is very remorseful. He’s ready to serve his time.”
Niagara County District Attorney Brian Seaman asked the judge to sentence Parson to the “higher end” of the 20- to 25-year range of prison time he faced for his guilty plea to a charge of first-degree manslaughter.
Ottaviano handed down a term of 22 years, followed by 5 years of post-release supervision.
“The McWilson family has irretrievably lost their son Jaylan, and a 20-year-old young man will spend the next 20 years of his life in prison, and there is no reason for either,” Seaman said after the sentencing. “There was no good reason for the defendant to be carrying an illegal handgun, and there was no good reason for him to fire it. Part of the depth of the tragedy in this case is that it was so avoidable.”
Parson, 20, of Buffalo, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in a plea agreement with prosecutors. As part of that agreement, he admitted to shooting and killing McWilson, 24, as he sat in his car on Jan. 21, 2023, in front of his family’s South Avenue home. Seaman said Parson shot McWilson “four times in the back.”
Police and prosecutors have suggested that McWilson was killed in a botched robbery attempt.
A Niagara County grand jury originally indicted Parson on charges of second-degree murder, attempted first-degree robbery and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Parson had pleaded not guilty to those charges.
He was taken into custody on Jan. 26, 2023, five days after McWilson’s murder, when agents with the U.S. Marshals Violent Felony Fugitive Task Force, along with Falls police detectives and officers with the Town of Amherst Police Department, raided a motel near the University at Buffalo’s North Campus.
Falls Police Criminal Investigation Division (CID) detectives had said that they had used “a focused set of leads” in a search for McWilson’s killer. CID detectives said that the Marshals Service and Amherst Police had aided in their investigation.
Police said McWilson, the son of prominent Falls singer Marsha McWilson, was killed in a hail of gunfire around 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 21, 2023, in the 1100 block of South Avenue. He reportedly had just turned off the engine of his BMW sedan when the sound of gunshots shattered the usually quiet North End neighborhood.
Detectives said McWilson was struck by multiple rounds as he sat in the driver’s seat of his vehicle. He was able to get out of the car and make his way to the front porch of his family’s home before collapsing.
Falls firefighters and EMTs tried to stabilize his wounds and an ambulance rushed to transport him to Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo.
But after traveling just a few blocks, the ambulance was diverted to the emergency room at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center. McWilson was pronounced dead at NFMMC a short time later.
Parson’s plea also resolved a charge stemming from a May melee at the Niagara County Correctional Facility. He and three other inmates were charged with second-degree assault after they attacked another inmate in the jail cafeteria.