Grandson of Malcolm X Pleads Guilty

In a milestone to a family tragedy, the 12-year-old grandson of Malcolm X pleaded guilty Thursday to the juvenile equivalent of second-degree manslaughter and arson for setting the fire that killed his grandmother, Betty Shabazz.

During a court hearing, Malcolm Shabazz took the witness stand briefly and was asked by prosecutors what he did.

“Start a fire,” the boy replied before being cut off by Yonkers, N.Y., Family Court Judge Howard Spitz. “I don’t think we need to go into this,” the judge said.

“Did you recklessly cause the death of another person . . . when you knew she was in the apartment?” asked prosecutor Barbara Kukowski.

“Yes,” Shabazz answered.

Lawyers for the youngster were determined to avoid public descriptions of his troubled childhood, and the plea served that purpose. The plea seals documents containing information about events the morning the fire occurred.

Malcolm’s mother, Qubilah Shabazz, was in the courtroom when her son, hands clasped in front of him and showing no outward emotion, said he was guilty of starting the fire in the hallway of his grandmother’s apartment building in Yonkers last month.

The 61-year-old widow of Malcolm X died more than three weeks later in a Bronx hospital. She had burns over 80% of her body.

The maximum sentence Shabazz could receive as a juvenile is 18 months in detention. But it could turn out to be longer as the term will be reconsidered annually until he becomes 18 years old.

“Justice was served,” said Kukowski when the proceedings were concluded.

Percy Sutton, a member of the legal team representing Shabazz, told reporters he has seen many sad things in his life, “But this was the saddest.”

Sutton said that after he explained what the plea would mean to Shabazz, the youngster answered, “Make it, Mr. Sutton.”

Sutton said the decision to plead to the charges was in response to a ruling by a five-judge appeals court panel in Brooklyn that would have allowed two pool reporters to be present at a trial for Shabazz.

“Had this trial not been open to the public, we certainly would have done it differently,” Sutton said.

At a hearing before Judge Spitz on Tuesday, Sutton had agreed Shabazz was competent to stand trial. The legal tactic prevented several psychiatrists from testifying about the youngster’s mental state and troubled childhood.

Three weeks before the fire, Shabazz was sent to live with his grandmother because of his turbulent home life. After the blaze on June 1, he was discovered ringing doorbells and smelling of gasoline in the nearby town of Mount Vernon.

He reportedly told detectives that he set the fire because he wanted to return home to his mother in San Antonio, Texas.

Tragedy has stalked the Shabazz family.

In 1994, Qubilah Shabazz was charged with plotting to murder Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, who Betty Shabazz long had believed was behind the murder of her husband, Malcolm X.

Betty Shabazz, pregnant with twins, was in the audience when her husband was shot just as he started to deliver a speech in the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan in 1965.

She later reconciled with Farrakhan, who denied responsibility for the 1965 shooting but said his anti-Malcolm writings helped create the atmosphere leading to the killing.

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The indictment against Qubilah Shabazz was dismissed this year as part of an agreement requiring her to undergo drug treatment and to commit no crimes for two years.

There was a remarkable outpouring of sympathy and support for Betty Shabazz’s plight as she fought for her life in the Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx.

Visitors included Coretta Scott King, Maya Angelou, New York’s Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and former Mayor David N. Dinkins, who was a member of the defense team for her 12-year-old grandson.

Hundreds of people gave blood for her treatment, and prayers were said in churches for her recovery.