KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — On the night of January 16, 1996, Almeer Nance and Robert Manning planned to rob a RadioShack in Farragut.
Manning was 18 at the time and Nance was 16. The two walked into the RadioShack. Both were armed. Manning shot and killed Joseph Ridings, the store clerk.
"It's horrible because there's nothing you can do to take it back once those types of things are done," Nance said. "It's a horrible feeling."
Nearly 27 years later, Nance, now in his mid-40s, reflects on the day which affected every other for the rest of his life.
Nance said he started off as a promising child.
"I loved school," Nance said. "I was in the top 10 percentile in the state."
But Nance said an unstable home life and a lack of love led him to hang out with people in gangs and the wrong crowd.
"You can jump me and beat me up," Nance said. "I just want to belong to something that bad."
For his choices on that night in 1996, a jury convicted Nance of first-degree murder and sentenced him to the maximum: life in prison.
Without hope, Nance said, he turned inward.
"I don't want to be a tough guy. I don't want to be the biggest gangster," Nance said. "I know that's an illusion."
Nance started working toward a college degree. He graduated with an associate's degree and is now working on his bachelor's.
"Sometimes you could say I'm sorry, but they say the best apology is changed behavior," Nance said.
He said his goal now is to make sure other children don't make the decisions he made as a teenager. Nance said it's up to society to love their youth.
"Instead of thinking about ways to punish us when these situations happen, think about how to teach us and nurture us," Nance said.
A judge sentenced Nance to a maximum of 51 years in prison for the RadioShack murder and another 25 years for aggravated assault for a kidnapping that same day. He received a combined 76-year sentence for crimes committed as a 16-year-old, which meant Nance would be 92 years old before he would be eligible for parole.
However, in 2022 the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled life sentences for juveniles are cruel and unusual. Because of that change, Nance's new release eligibility date is in 2028.