PONTIAC, Mich. -- When Nathaniel Abraham was released from state supervision nine years after killing a man as an 11-year-old, he flashed a bright smile and wore a flamboyant cream pinstripe suit, red shoes and a fedora.

But it was a solemn Abraham, decked out in gray-green jail attire and wrist and leg shackles that was led off Monday to at least four years in prison for trying to sell Ecstasy from the trunk of his car.

The 22-year-old from Pontiac was charged last year with dealing drugs after undercover officers in his hometown said they caught him with 254 Ecstasy pills at a gas station. He pleaded guilty in November to possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.

Abraham was 11 when he made national headlines by fatally shooting Ronnie Greene, 18, of Pontiac on Oct. 29, 1997.

Arrested two days later and convicted of second-degree murder in November 1999, he was sentenced to juvenile detention until his 21st birthday and was released in January 2007.

"Sure enough, I'm not going back into society to cause any other families any hurt or harm," Abraham said then.

With his mother and other relatives and acquaintances looking on in an Oakland County courtroom, Abraham made still more promises in hopes of swaying the lightest possible sentence from Judge Daniel O'Brien.

"I'm not saying I'll never make a mistake again," Abraham told O'Brien. "Given the opportunity, I know within myself that I can be a success to the community."

"A mistake is not noticing this step and tripping," O'Brien replied. "That's a mistake."

"You have the ability to say `I will not commit a crime again,' because crimes require an intent," O'Brien said before ordering the 4- to 20-year sentence.

Abraham's arrest as a child sparked debate on the treatment of juveniles accused of violent crimes. He was sentenced as an adult, but held as a juvenile.

He now goes straight into Michigan's adult prison system.

"Ultimately, one day he is going to get out," defense attorney Byron Pitts told O'Brien prior to the sentencing. "The issue is what kind of individual is going to emerge. Is he going to be somebody who is so institutionalized that they know nothing else other than this way of life and he's just bound for recidivism?

"Or is it somebody who is ... there long enough to learn his lesson, is there long enough to protect the interests of public safety, but has the ability to come out and be a productive citizen?"

O'Brien challenged Abraham to be truthful and responsible, especially to his family.

"If you have a commitment to them, a real commitment as a man, not given an opportunity or given the right lotto numbers, now is your opportunity," O'Brien said. "Go ahead make a commitment. Look at them."

Abraham turned to his family sitting along the fourth row in the courtroom's gallery.

"I'm making a commitment to my family, and ultimately my mother," he said. "I want to make my mother proud of me. I make that commitment today to do ..."

"To do what?" O'Brien interjected.

"To be a success," Abraham said about getting past his current legal troubles.

The sentencing lasted more than 40 minutes and included O'Brien's reading of a letter from Abraham.

"I know that I let a lot of people down, and a lot of people have given up on me," the letter read. "But I haven't given up on me. I know I can do it. I will do it because I want to be successful."

O'Brien said there was a reason for reading the letter into the court record: "So there will never be a mistake by you or the people who are pulling for you. You cannot just say something and not have consequences.

"Now that you've said these things ... one year, five years, tomorrow you will either have done right by your family and loved ones, or one year, five years, tomorrow you would have abused them worse than ever. You will have broken your word to them."

Pitts said outside the courtroom that his client is sorry for what he's done.

"He's going to have a long time to think about it," Pitts said. "He's got the ability to do great things in life. He just has to put his mind towards doing it," Pitts added.