On the morning of March 12, 2017, the life of 19-year-old Jalen Little, an African American male, was tragically cut short in his own home on Oak Tree Drive in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The unexpected and violent nature of his death sent shockwaves through his family and the local community. What began as a transaction over marijuana escalated into a fatal encounter, leaving a family to grapple with an immeasurable loss.
The incident unfolded after Jacob Evan Coyne and Zachary Chadwick had
given Jalen $960 for marijuana. When the drug deal did not go as they had planned, Coyne and Chadwick went to Jalen's residence. It was there that Coyne shot Jalen multiple times. Jalen's younger brother, Dontae, was a witness to the horrific event and recounted that his brother's last words were a declaration of love for his family, a heart-wrenching acknowledgment of his impending fate.
In the immediate aftermath, a manhunt for the individuals responsible for Jalen's death was launched by the Chattanooga Police. The investigation quickly led to the identification of two suspects. Zachary Chadwick was apprehended the day after the shooting. His accomplice, Jacob Evan Coyne, was considered a significant flight risk and was consequently placed on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Top 10 Most Wanted list. The search for Coyne came to an end on March 14, 2017, when he was located and arrested in Decatur, Tennessee.
The legal proceedings that followed brought some measure of justice for Jalen's family. On February 28, 2020, a Hamilton County Criminal Court jury found Jacob Evan Coyne guilty of first-degree premeditated murder, felony murder, and especially aggravated robbery. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after serving 51 years. A separate sentencing for the robbery charge was scheduled for April 23, 2020. Zachary Chadwick, the co-defendant in the case, reached a plea agreement on June 26, 2020. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charges of facilitation of first-degree murder and facilitation of especially aggravated robbery, with his sentences to be served concurrently.
