They should have gone with a jury of their cowardly peers.

ABOVE: In case you wanted to see what Faheem looked like...

...and in case you were wondering what happened to the bad guys...


Guilty Verdicts In Faheem Thomas-Childs Case

From CBS 3 in Philadelphia:

Two men were found guilty Thursday of fatally shooting a 10-year-old boy outside his elementary school, a case that bedeviled authorities for months because witnesses were reluctant to come forward.

Kennell Spady, 21, and Kareem Johnson, 22, were charged with first-degree murder for their roles in a wild gunfight that caught Faheem Thomas-Childs in the crossfire, killing him as he walked to school on Feb. 11, 2004.

The non-jury trial over the past several weeks had been a nightmare for prosecutors, with at least eight witnesses recanting their statements to police. One woman allegedly was coached by her father as she took the stand to say, “I don’t remember.”

The case was seen as a textbook example of the code of silence that permeates many violent neighborhoods, with residents fearful of being seen as “snitches” and suffering retaliation.

Dozens of people saw more than 90 bullets fly outside Thomas-Childs’ elementary school in North Philadelphia, but few came forward despite authorities offering a $100,000 reward and witness protection.

Those that did changed their stories once they got to court.