“Ryder” Rode Off Track

Three years after he was hailed as a model turnaround, Norman Boone Jr. was sent to jail for 18 months on weapons and drug charges. That’s better than 20 years for the murder he’d been accused of, said his relieved mom.

Jessie Garrett, the mom, shared that observation after her son appeared in Courtroom C at State Superior Court on Elm Street on Wednesday. He was there to answer to a variety of drug charges, a weapons charge, and several failure-to-appears, for which her received 18 months in jail.

It was the second time Boone, who’s 21, has appeared in court in a month. On Aug. 18 he was next door in Courtroom B facing a murder rap for allegedly shooting 17-year-old Vashun Lewis to death at 231 Goffe St. on April 16. On that day Judge Bruce Thomopson threw out that charge after New Haven State’s Attorney Mike Dearington said his office would not prosecute the case. He said that he had urged cops not to make the arrest because they didn’t have enough evidence, a conclusion with which they disagreed. Judge Thompson dismissed the case without prejudice, which means police can try again to bring murder charges against Boone.

On Wednesday, Judge William Holden handed down a sentence of 18 months to Boone for the earlier charges. And he issued a warning: If Boone lands back in court again, he might not get off so easy, Holden said from the bench just after 11 a.m. ​“The first thing this court will look at is your prior history, which is significant.”

Marshals escorted the handcuffed and smiling Boone, dressed in an oversized cream-colored prison uniform, from the courtroom. Boone’s mom was also smiling, along with several other family members with her, as she stepped out into the hall.

“I feel good about this,” she said. Prison might be a good place for her son right now, she said. ​“That’s a safe place for him to be.”

It’s not perfectly safe in there, she added. ​“I feel like he’s 70 percent safe.”

Boone goes by the nickname Ryder, ​“because he likes to ride bikes. He can do a wheelie from corner to corner,” his mom said.

In 2008, Boone was featured in an Independent article about efforts by Street Outreach Workers to turn around ​“at-risk” teens.

“I’m on the right road and am going to keep going,” Boone said at that time. He was enrolled in a job training program and working towards a GED.

Garrett said Boone went on to earn his GED and was then training to be a nurse. Then he got off track, Garrett said. ​“I guess he must have went the wrong way, started messing with the wrong crowd.”

Boone was arrested for third-degree assault in May 2009. He was arrested for marijuana possession and intent to sell on April 8 and May 1. On Feb. 3, he was arrested for possession of narcotics, interfering, and carrying a pistol. He was charged with failure to appear for not showing up to court dates after all four of those arrests.

While acknowledging that he committed those crimes, Garrett insisted her son is not guilty of the murder charge. ​“My baby didn’t do it. I know for a fact he didn’t do it.”

She acknowledged that he was caught carrying a gun. She said she doesn’t know why he had it.

Garrett said she’s still worried cops might try again with a murder charge. But she said she can produce witnesses who will clear her son’s name. Outside the courthouse, Boone’s cousin and the mother of his 2‑year-old daughter said he arrived at the crime scene only after 17-year-old Lewis was shot.

Boone was friends with Lewis, or more like family, said Boone’s cousin. Lewis was ​“basically like his son.”

Garrett said she hopes some time in jail might set Boone straight again. ​“I think this is what he needs, to go sit down for a little while.”