'Justice got justice': Babysitter sentenced for beating 1-year-old Detroit girl to death

Kara Berg, The Detroit News on Aug 18, 2025

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DETROIT — The family of a 1-year-old Detroit girl named Justice who was beaten to death by a man babysitting her in 2022 said "Justice got justice" on Monday after LeRoy Metoyer III was sentenced in Wayne Circuit Court to 25 to 50 in prison.

Tamika Smith, Justice Starks's great-aunt, said Metoyer, who was sentenced on second-degree murder and first-degree child abuse charges, killed her niece right before her second birthday. Family members wore pins with Starks's smiling face on them during the sentencing.

"He left no skin on her body untouched by his hands or his abuse," Smith said. "Every part of her body, from the top of her head to the soles of her feet, there were bruises everywhere. You put those bruises there, LeRoy, you tormented my little niece. You did not give her the chance to live."

Metoyer was caring for Justice, the child of a friend, when he beat her to death Nov. 29, 2022, at a home in the 19200 block of Lancashire Street in Detroit.

Justice was a beautiful, bright, gifted girl, Smith said, and she lit up every room she entered. She did not deserve to be killed, especially not in the way she died, she said.

"I hope that she torments you mentally like you tormented her in the physical," Smith said. "Today I can finally say, Justice got justice."

Smith called Metoyer "selfish yet calculated," for waiting three years to plead guilty to Justice's death, wasting the court's time during a partial jury trial and her family's time. He claimed to be innocent for three years, she said.

Metoyer went through seven days of a jury trial from mid to late July before pleading guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree child abuse.

Metoyer and his attorney, Gabi Silver, declined to speak during the sentencing.

Ericka Edmon, Justice's mother, said in a victim impact statement read by Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Tina Ripley that she feels empty without her daughter.

"This was not just the loss of a child, this was the loss of a future," Edmon said. "No sentence can bring my daughter home but I need the court to understand my pain is permanent. ... I will carry the wound of her loss for the rest of my days."

Justice's grandmother, Laketa Edmon, said in an impact statement Ripley read that her family was robbed of seeing Justice grow up. They will never get to see her first day of school, her sweet 16, her prom, her high school graduation.

"We went from planning Christmas and Justice's birthday party to planning a 1-year-old's funeral," Edmon said. "Justice was so full of life, so loveable and adorable. She loved to dance, play and eat and she had a contagious laugh."