Judge Laura Stuzin sentenced Tamarius Blair Davis to 50 years in the killing of Dustin Wakefield.

Fifty years is the prison term the Herald and Law & Crime both printed. Twenty years of probation and 25 years of probation are not the same term. The Herald reported the May plea was not a deal, so the number was the judge's, and that a 30-year term and a five-year term run at the same time as the 50. Law & Crime did not print those concurrent terms. A sentence after a guilty plea is the judgment on the counts in that plea. It is not a verdict from a jury.

The Miami Herald, in a story by Grethel Aguila updated Oct. 29, 2026, at 1:06 p.m., reported that after three days of testimony and argument Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Laura Stuzin sentenced Tamarius Blair Davis, 27, to 50 years in prison followed by 20 years of probation. El Nuevo Herald, in a story by the same reporter published Oct. 30, 2026, at 7:27 a.m., reported the same prison term and the same probation term. Both reported that in May he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, attempted murder, and child-abuse charges in the Aug. 24, 2021 killing of Dustin Wakefield, 21. Law & Crime, in a story by Chris Perez published Oct. 29 at 5:36 p.m., reported 50 years in prison plus 25 years of probation, and reported the May plea as a plea to second-degree murder. Twenty years and 25 years are not the same probation term. A plea the Herald described as three charges, and a plea Law & Crime described as second-degree murder, are not the same list. The Herald reported the change of plea was not a deal with prosecutors, so the sentence was the judge's, and that he had been facing anywhere from more than two decades up to life. Law & Crime, citing WSVN, reported prosecutors wanted a life sentence and the defense hoped for no more than 25 years. A statutory range the Herald printed, and the two numbers Law & Crime attributed to the two sides, are not the same description of what was asked. The Herald reported Davis must serve at least 25 years of the 50, and that Stuzin also sentenced him to 30 years and to five years on the two additional charges, concurrent with the 50. Law & Crime did not print those concurrent terms. Concurrent terms are not extra years stacked on the 50. The Herald reported he did not react when the sentences were announced. The child-abuse count is a charge in the Herald's list. The child is not named here.

Where the shooting happened, and what the court was told about that night, depend on which desk is writing. The Herald reported that when Davis was arrested he told police he was high on mushrooms, that he killed Wakefield on the outdoor patio of a restaurant on Ocean Drive in South Beach, and that he said he randomly chose Wakefield after attacking another man on the street minutes earlier. Law & Crime reported court documents said he was high on mushrooms, which made him feel empowered, and that Wakefield was with his family at a sidewalk cafe in the 1400 block of Ocean Drive. A restaurant patio and a sidewalk cafe in the 1400 block are not the same location line. Randomly chose, after another man minutes earlier, is the Herald. Empowered is Law & Crime's account of the court documents. The Herald did not print empowered in the copy used here. Law & Crime did not print the other man. Law & Crime reported Wakefield was a Colorado tourist and that Davis was 22 at the time. The Herald reported Wakefield was 21 and from Colorado, and that Davis, a UPS driver visiting South Florida, lived in Norcross, Georgia, outside Atlanta. Law & Crime reported an arrest affidavit said Wakefield was shot at least once in the head, and that an uncle, Mike Wakefield, told the Miami Herald that Davis shot him multiple times while he was on the ground. Once in the head, in an affidavit Law & Crime cited, and multiple times, in the uncle's account, are not the same count of shots. The Herald's sentencing story, in the copy used here, did not print the head wound.

What the family told reporters in 2021, and what the judge said Thursday, are different hearings. Law & Crime reported the family told the Miami Herald after the 2021 slaying that Wakefield stood up between the gunman and the child before Davis fired. Law & Crime quoted Mike Wakefield telling the Herald, "This guy came in with a gun waving it, saying it's time to die," and, "He pointed the gun at his son and Dustin said, 'He's only a boy.'" The child is not named here. Law & Crime reported Lora Wakefield told NBC affiliate KUSA, after the May plea, "I know that he decidedly chose to lay his life down and protect people even in that place of being shot, because more people could have died that day," and that he was a hero to the child and to others around him. Law & Crime also quoted her, "I forgive the guy, but I also believe in consequences to the choices that you make," and, "You just can't take a life. You took my son's life, you gave him no mercy, so I believe he needs to do life in prison." A life sentence she told KUSA she wanted, and the 50 years the Herald reported Thursday, are not the same number. The Herald reported Stuzin told the family, "Your son, husband, father and brother was in the prime of his life and was, by all accounts, an exemplary human being," and, "Nothing, including a life sentence, will bring your son back." The Herald reported she told Davis, "This was not a mistake... This was preventable," and that she had considered his age and the guilty plea, which spared the family a trial. Law & Crime, citing WSVN, reported she said, "I have tried my best to impose a sentence which punishes, but also allows for some hope, even though it may be small," and, "Each and every one of you said that anything less than a life sentence was not justice and yet you all understand that nothing will bring your son back." Preventable, which the Herald printed, and some hope, which Law & Crime attributed to WSVN, are not the same sentence. Law & Crime reported defense attorney Juan Mourin told WSVN, "This is a case that was not going to have a happy ending for anybody no matter what."

El Nuevo Herald's Oct. 30 story added what the English Herald's update, in the copy used here, did not. It reported Wakefield's relatives left the courtroom quickly and hugged in the hallway, that some of them spoke with Davis's relatives and hugged them, and that both families declined to talk to reporters. It reported Lora Wakefield said, "Mantengan la calma y sigan adelante como Dustin," as she walked away. It reported Davis, in an orange jail uniform, took the stand Tuesday and admitted the killing was "algo indescriptiblemente terrible." It reported his father, Tommy Davis, told the court that the family knows him by his middle name, Blair, and described him as respectful, quiet, and hardworking, and as someone who went to church with the family. The Herald reported Davis has been in custody since the arrest and will get credit for five years already served. El Nuevo Herald reported the same credit. Law & Crime did not print the credit. A Tuesday admission from the stand, and a May guilty plea, are not the same court date. Thursday's 50-year term is the sentence. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.