Apparently the jury didn’t take too long.

Moments after being found guilty of murder, a former All-Ohio quarterback who starred at Buchtel High School passed on his last chance to speak before he was sentenced Tuesday in Stark County Common Pleas Court.

That didn’t sit well with the teenage victim’s parents when they got the opportunity to address the court.

“You just killed a man; you can’t say nothing?” challenged Michael Cheek, father of 17-year-old Michael Cheek, who was gunned down July 29 outside a convenience store. “I hope the judge don’t care about nothing when he sentences you.”

That’s when Steven J. Walker, 20, who had opted not to testify in his defense, broke his silence.

“I ain’t the one who killed Michael Cheek,”he said when permitted to make a statement. “I never shot Michael Cheek. I’m very sorry.”

After a two-day trial, the 12-member jury found Walker guilty of murder, with a firearm specification, as well as carrying a concealed weapon. Judge John G. Haas sentenced him immediately to 15 years to life for the murder, another three years for using a firearm and six months for the concealed weapon.

According to testimony, the shooting was gang related.

Walker, a Canton resident, was upset when Cheek and two other friends walked into the Hall of Fame Fuel Mart on Sherrick Road because they were part of a rival gang and had ventured into hostile territory. Walker, who was in the store, complained openly, and Cheek punched Walker when he wouldn’t shut up, according to testimony.

The kid killed clearly wasn’t the “innocent” initially portrayed when this happened, but that doesn’t change things.