MARYSVILLE – When Robbie Myrick Jr. was born, his sister, Briana, who is 13-years older, was in the room.

Sadly, she also was there when he died. The Marysville Getchell student was critically injured during a fight in a wooded area south of Pinewood Elementary School. He died days later in the hospital with his sister and dad at his side as he was taken off life support. “I felt my brother’s last heartbeat,” Briana Beilstein said by phone from Spokane Wednesday.

Robbie’s death and the follow-up by police and the courts has broken hearts in the Myrick family. The teen charged in Myrick’s death is scheduled to be sentenced April 13. Briana is not expecting justice for her brother or family.

“His dad is going to lose it,” she said of Robert Myrick Sr., adding prosecutors have told them the teen-age defendant could only get 30 days in jail. And, because of the age, he may only get time already served under house arrest.

“Dad’s taken it hard. He (Robbie) was all he had,” Briana said.

She said the sentence is so light because, “He didn’t intend to kill him.”

But Briana said that happens often. “It’s no different to me than drinking and driving. Every day we wake up we make choices. He made the choice to lose his temper and kick him (Robbie) in the head.”

Briana said Robbie had never been in a fight. “It was not in his personality,” she said.

Robbie was 6 when Briana got married. With her mom being out of the picture for years, Briana became like the mom. Of the three other siblings, two came to live with her and her husband.

Robbie stayed with his dad. “My brothers’ friends were like his family,” she said. Two of his friends – Thomas McCormick and Colby Watts – helped Briana put on a basketball tournament at MG last weekend.

After her brother died, Colby asked if he could be “like your little brother for now. He will message me randomly to see how I’m doing. He babysat my kid with his girlfriend.”

The tournament idea actually came from MG physical education teacher Jaci Legore. She knew Robbie wanted to be part of a fund-raiser that would help find a cure for diabetes. Since he loved basketball, it was only natural to have a tourney.

“During this whole thing we felt so helpless. Everything was out of control. This was in our control,” she said.

Briana reached out to Robbie’s girlfriend that weekend. She helped with the tournament, and they stayed together to comfort each other.

At the event March 24, they raised $600. Girls who were friends of Robbie’s made Italian sodas. T-shirts were sold. Moms brought finger food and desserts.

As for the basketball, it was open gym so anyone could play. In the future, Briana wants to make it an annual event, including sponsors so more money could be raised.

Briana said Robbie would have loved the event.

“We’ve been on a roller coaster of emotions since everything happened. We wanted to do something positive in his name,” she said.

On the morning of the tournament, Briana said she went into Robbie’s room and found a journal. “Robbie just wanted to make everyone happy,” she said.