November 9, 2007 -- The grieving widow of slain Police Officer Dillon Stewart yesterday demanded the harshest possible penalty - life without parole - for the man who fatally shot her husband during a traffic stop.
And that's exactly what he got.
"Life without parole," said Leslyn Stewart, before a courtroom packed tight with some 200 officers, union officials and family members.
"Because as the bullet pierced through Dillon's side, it pierced through my side. As it bore though his heart, it bore though mine.
"And because we shared the same life, my life as I knew it died on Nov. 28, 2005, as well. The difference being Dillon's physical death was mine spiritually, emotionally and mentally."
Allan Cameron, 29, was convicted last month of first-degree murder for pumping six bullets into Dillon Stewart's squad car as the officer was trying to pull over a speeding Cameron at the corner of Church and Flatbush avenues.
He was arrested the morning after the murder at his girlfriend's apartment, where he had fled after abandoning his car.
There was dead silence in the crowded courtroom as Justice Albert Tomei consigned Cameron to a death in prison, "the rest of [his] life to be spent in a soulless, loveless, compassionless environment."
"When it comes to humanity, how we treat each other, we are still in the Dark Ages," the judge said.
"Too many of us pray at the altar of violence and killing machines. Hopefully, one day, we will emerge from the darkness and see the last of Allan Cameron and his ilk."
Given the opportunity to speak before receiving his sentence, Cameron opted not to ask for mercy, but instead maintain his innocence.
"I'm sorry for your losses," he told members of the Stewart family. "But I did not have anything to do with Officer Stewart's death. And the truth is going to come out one of these good days. The only thing I am guilty of, your honor, is being a young black man and poor."
He did not glance back at his own family as he was led away in cuffs.
When it was over, Leslyn Stewart said the sentence offered closure of a sort - not only for herself but for her daughters, 8 and 2, who stayed home for the sentencing.
"The older one wasn't comfortable with seeing the person who murdered her father," she told reporters outside court. "My older one, she was nervous about it, him getting out and coming to get us. It's closure in that regard."
In court, the slain officer's sister, Sheryl Campbell-Julien, turned her rage and grief toward the man in cuffs at the defense table.
"When you decided that you wanted to be the coward demon that you are, and kill my brother, you almost destroyed us all," she said. "I used the word 'almost' because we are still standing, and we will go on and be strong and be better than we are.
"You are a heartless coward, and I hope you rot in jail."
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