Mike Laird’s prosecution of Damarcus Deshun McGhee put the Port Arthur man behind bars for 40 years, but Laird didn’t walk away unscathed.

The veteran lawyer, serving his second hitch as an assistant district attorney, was obviously troubled Friday that McGhee, only 21, put himself in position for such a just but serious sentence.

McGhee was sentenced for the shooting death last January of James “Champ Joe” Jones, killed in a car near a Beaumont apartment complex. McGhee was convicted, as well, of shooting a second man, Frederick King, in the face. If not for good fortune, King might have died, as well. For that act of aggravated assault, McGhee earned an additional sentence of 20 years.

Lots of prosecutors might have walked out of the courtroom simply satisfied with a job well done. But Laird issued a statement that revealed his concern about young assailants, young victims, and disregard for the lives and safety of others. People need to think about consequences, he said.

“Too many young people are dying violent deaths in our community,” Laird said in that issued statement. “I wish we could convince our youth there is a better way to resolve conflict.”

There are better ways – almost any way is a better way than taking another’s life.  When he was a boy, Laird said, young men settled their differences by pushing or shoving or even fistfights. But people walked away alive.

Nowadays, he said, young people are quick to reach for a lethal weapon. Once the gun is fired, there’s no taking it back.

“It ruins everybody’s life,” he said.

It ended James Jones’ life and it ruined Damarcus McGhee’s. He’ll serve at least 20 years, Laird said, and maybe more.

Bottom line, Laird said, the truth of what happened will never be certain. The surviving victim said he was meeting McGhee on business. McGhee said he feared the other two would kill him that night, so he shot first.

The tiebreaker, perhaps, was a potato that McGhee had when he shot the victims. Potatoes, police say, are natural “silencers” for gunshots. If McGhee hadn’t intended to shoot the others, Laird asked, why did he carry a do-it-yourself silencer?

Laird said McGhee, who pleaded guilty, had no record of violence in Jefferson County. But it only takes a single gunshot to change that.

James Jones, one of 19 murder victims in Beaumont in 2017, lived a too-short life, Laird said. And though overall violent crimes seem to be in decline, murder in Beaumont is not.

People must be “intentional” about keeping the peace, Laird said. Parents and teachers and churches must exert more beneficial influence on young people.

There are consequences to be paid, Laird cautioned.

Damarcus McGhee has only started paying them.