Judge lectures Harlem families to take responsibility as he sentences drug dealer 'Jay Cash' to 20 years

A judge shocked his courtroom Tuesday when he turned the sentencing of five violent Harlem drug dealers into a lecture on parental responsibility.

"Gun violence in Harlem is the responsibility of that community," Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Edward McLaughlin said before sending Jaquan (Jay Cash) Layne, 21, the leader of the W. 137th St. gang, away for at least 20 years.

"If you do nothing, you are complicit," he said as he urged families to do more to turn their kids from crime.

"If your relative is not doing homework, if you are not going to their school and talking with their teachers, then you contribute to your child's and your community's destruction."

"If your relative has money, jewelry and nice clothes but no job, your relative is in the drug business," he added.

Layne was convicted last month of running his drug enterprise from behind bars at Rikers. He recruited teens, including preppy gun moll Afrika Owes. She was just 15 years old when she carried guns for Layne, her then-boyfriend.

There is "no gun genie" delivering weapons to kids, the judge continued. Guns "are in your homes, whether you know it or not and whether you are blind to it or not." The judge's words left the families of the five gang members aghast.

"I can't do this," Layne's sobbing grandmother said as she left court — mascara streaking her cheeks. "With all these kids being sentenced like this. I think he's prejudiced."

Another of her grandsons, Jahlyl Layne, 18, was sentenced to at least 7 1/2 years and up to 23 1/2 years behind bars for his role. A third grandson, Malik Layne, 19, previously pleaded guilty and is serving a sentence of 1 1/2 to four years in state prison, officials said.

The five were convicted by a jury last month for running the business that terrorized the area. Nine other gang members, including Owes, pleaded guilty.

"Go after the ones that passed the f------ guns — the adults!" screamed a second woman as she stormed out of court.

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. — who watched silently as the eldest Layne was sentenced — has made fighting gangs a priority. Two other men, Jeffrey Brown, 20, and Haybib Mohammed, 32, face sentences of 15-to-life for the June 2008 to February 2011 crack business they helped run. Jonathan Hernandez, 19, who was convicted of conspiracy and a gun related shooting, faces at least 15 1/2 years.