In the summer of 2017, the life of 15-year-old Junius Benton was tragically cut short by gunfire in the Robinson Place Subdivision of Monroe, Louisiana. On June 27th, officers from the Monroe Police Department were dispatched to the intersection of Milliken and Long Streets after receiving reports of shots fired. Upon arrival, they learned that Benton had been injured and subsequently transported to E.A. Conway Hospital.
At the scene, investigators found blood evidence near a storm drain, marking the spot where the young man had been struck.
In the investigation that followed, Devontae Demarquis Coleman was arrested and, on August 3, 2017, indicted for the second-degree murder of Junius Benton. However, from the outset, there was conflicting information regarding the identity of the shooter. Benton himself, in his final moments, reportedly identified another individual, Jaylon Brown, as the person who had shot him.
Coleman's case proceeded through the legal system. After waiving his right to a jury trial, he was tried by a judge in March 2021. During the trial, a taped statement from Coleman was admitted as evidence, in which he acknowledged being at the scene with a gun and firing it twice into the air. Despite this, and the victim's identification of another shooter, the judge found Coleman guilty of a lesser charge, negligent homicide, on April 12, 2021. He was sentenced to three years of imprisonment at hard labor with credit for time served.
The legal saga did not end there. Coleman appealed his conviction, arguing that the evidence presented was insufficient to prove his guilt. On July 13, 2022, the Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit, agreed with Coleman's defense, reversing his conviction and sentence. The appellate court noted the chaotic nature of the crime scene and the fact that the direct evidence at trial, including the victim's dying declaration, pointed to another individual as the perpetrator.
