'I hate me,' Wilkinsburg man says before sentencing in stabbing death of cousin

Brandy Franklin sat on the witness stand, staring at her nephew across the room.

Emmanual Jones had pleaded guilty in June to third-degree murder for killing her oldest son.

As she began her victim-impact statement, Franklin spoke softly.

“Eman, can you look at me?” she asked him.

He did.

“I love you,” she told him. “I want to hate you, but I don’t know how.”

“I hate me,” Jones responded softly.

“I want to forgive you,” Franklin continued. “But I don’t know how.”

The crime for which Jones was convicted has driven a wedge between the family — between those who supported him, and for those who stood by the victim, Brian Devante Jameel Clay.

Jones, 27, was sentenced Wednesday by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Kevin G. Sasinoski to serve 8-1/2 to 17 years in state prison.

Throughout the hearing, both sides talked about the divide that has torn their family apart.

On April 8, 2021, police were called to a home on Penn Avenue in Wilkinsburg where they found Clay dead from a stab wound to the chest.

Jones, who called 911 and tried to save his cousin, was the one who killed him.

Police said family members were gathered that evening for a first-birthday party for Jones’ daughter.

Jones got into an argument with his girlfriend, who he said had ripped a necklace from him and smashed a window with a baseball bat.

Although most guests had left by about 12:30 a.m., Clay remained.

Jones, who has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety, grabbed the knife used to cut the birthday cake and told Clay “‘he did not want to be here and he was going to stab himself,’” Jones told the police.

Clay asked Jones to put the knife down, and then tried to take it from him as he followed Jones up a set of stairs.

Clay grabbed at the knife. Jones stabbed him in the chest.

During Wednesday’s sentencing, defense attorney James Sheets told the court that his client, who worked as a chef and was in trade school to become a machinist, never tried to run.

“There was an immediate acknowledgment of what he had done,” Sheets said.

In his own written statement, Jones apologized.

“I never meant for any of this to happen,” he said. “It was an accident. I’m going to have to live with what has been done for the remainder of my life.”

Jones said he hopes that his family can someday forgive him.

“I ask that my family not direct their pain and hatred toward each other, but direct their pain and hatred toward me.

“I am the one they should hate.”

Karen Franklin, the grandmother to both the victim and defendant in the case, sobbed in the courtroom.

She told the court that Clay loved his cousin, and the two of them made music together.

Jones looked up to Clay like a big brother.

“I know Eman,” she said. “It was not malice. It was anger, drinking.”

She said Jones needs mental health treatment and has anger issues.

“I could never hate him. I just want everybody to love again, to come together,” she said.

As his grandmother testified, Jones stood up at the defense table. He kept his head down as he listened.

“He can go to jail for 100 years, it’s not going to bring my baby back,” she said. “It’s just going to make this family hurt more.”

As she finished, Karen Franklin said, “I love you, Eman.”

“I love you, too,” he answered, still with his head down.

When his aunt, Brandy Franklin testified, Jones again stood up at counsel table.

She said that her son was an artist and musician and described him as quickly and easily forgiving — a man who loved to laugh and joke.

“Everyone gravitated toward his energy,” she said.

In describing her pain, Brandy Franklin said it feels like something is missing from her.

“He took my soul and ripped it from my spirit. I’m longing to get it back, and I’ll never get it back.”

She continued: “I’m tired. I’m tired of being sad. I’m tired of being mad.”

Her voice rising, she spoke again about the divide in her family.

“I lost my sister. I lost my sister. I lost not only my son, but I lost my sister,” she said. “I’m tired of being strong. We’re like strangers — all of us.”

Brandy Franklin told the court that Jones still should go to prison for what he did.

“Although I love him, he deserves to have his time,” she said. “It’s not going to bring my son back, but justice should be served.”

Alana Gilchrist, the mother of Clay’s 4-year-old son, talked about the impact Clay’s death has had on the boy.

“He’s 4 years old, and he doesn’t have a dad. He doesn’t have a dad no more,” she said, anger rising in her voice.

Her son asks when Clay is going to wake up, or if they can go see him with the angels.

“He doesn’t have anybody to teach him to be a man,” Gilchrist said. “Brian was a good man.”

She told the court that Clay loved Jones, who has two young daughters, and that they all used to hang out together.

“I’m so angry,” she said. “You can still see your kids. My son will never see his dad again.”