Mere hours after a Suffolk County prosecutor outlined the case against him, a Roxbury gang member charged in the 2007 fatal shooting of Luis Gerena, Jr., took responsibility for his actions and accepted a lengthy state prison term, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

In a hearing this afternoon, DARRELL RODRIGUES (D.O.B. 5/24/90) pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, unlawful possession of a firearm, assault and battery on a witness in the case, and intimidation of a witness. Superior Court Judge Judith Fabricant sentenced Rodrigues to serve 14 to 15 years in state prison followed by five years of probation.

Rodrigues, who was 16 at the time of Gerena’s homicide and did not pull the trigger, must have no direct or indirect contact with either of the victims or their families, and must obtain his GED.

In court today, Gerena’s mother, Wendy Jiminian, gave both an oral and written statement to the court. She tearfully described the great loss that she suffered as a result of her son’s murder.

“It was very painful,” she said. “He was only 13. He didn’t deserve to die. I miss him so much. Words cannot express how I feel …. At least we’ll feel some closure. At least I can go home and tell my other kids justice was served.”

In her written statement, Jiminian described the difficulty of having to explain to her other children what had happened to their brother, and the pain she felt during holidays, especially Thanksgiving – the slain boy’s favorite.

“The hardest thing I had to do was tell my other children that their brother was gone and not coming back,” she wrote.

The boy’s father, Luis Gerena, Sr., also provided a written statement to the court.

“Luis Jr. was a vibrant, smart, caring, loving 13-year-old,” he wrote. “Every day of his life, he made the lives of our family brighter. Luis loved being a big brother and he was a consummate symbol of love, structure, and safety in all of his siblings’ lives from walking them to the bus stop, hanging out with them after school, helping them with their homework, to just being there for his siblings when they needed him. Our family was not complete without Luis.”

Prosecutors say Rodrigues and NURUDEEN ALABI (D.O.B. 11/6/89) were gang members associated with the Academy Homes housing development and had a longstanding rivalry with another group affiliated with the Heath Street development. They went to Gerena’s neighborhood with the intention of robbing and shooting a rival on the evening of Jan. 12, 2007, and instead encountered Gerena – an innocent boy with no gang ties who was returning from a visit to his girlfriend’s house.

Alabi, whom prosecutors allege fired the gunshots that killed Gerena, will be tried separately at a later date.

Katherine Moran is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Attorney Jack Courtney represented Rodrigues.