Life sentence for man who killed Memphis music teacher
Laura Testino
A 25-year-old man was convicted Friday in the 2016 killing of a Memphis music teacher.
Nicholas Brooks, 25, was convicted by a criminal court jury of first-degree murder, especially aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and employment of a firearm in the commission of a dangerous felony.
Brooks was automatically sentenced to life with parole for the first-degree murder charge. He will be sentenced for the other felony convictions at his next hearing, scheduled for Sept. 13.
The victim, Christoper Waters, 30, was a music teacher for Shelby County Schools and an instructor at Amro Music and Harmonic South String Orchestra. He was found shot and unresponsive in his Raleigh home on the morning of Dec. 9, 2016.
Weathersbee:Losing a music teacher, losing a learning link
Five other defendants charged in the case are awaiting trial, according to a release from the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office.
Waters’ death was the 214th homicide for Memphis in 2016, breaking a one-year record set 23 years earlier in 1993. There was a total of 228 homicides in 2016, more than the reported totals for following years.
2019: More than 100 homicides recorded in Memphis so far this year
“I know this was the murder that broke the record for Memphis,” Water’s coworker Nick Averwater told The Commercial Appeal in December 2016. “I hope we can celebrate what a great person he was, too.”
Find The Commercial Appeal's homicide tracker here.
Laura Testino covers education and children's issues for the Commercial Appeal. Reach her at laura.testino@commercialappeal.com or 901-512-3763. Find her on Twitter: @LDTestino