In the early morning hours of July 20, 2023, a shooting at a home in Kosciusko, Mississippi, claimed the life of Jamel Davis. A 21-year-old Black man from the area, Davis was at the residence in the 500 block of West Adams Street when he was shot at approximately 1:40 a.m. He was rushed to the Baptist Memorial Hospital-Attala Emergency Department for a gunshot wound but was later pronounced dead.
The Kosciusko Police Department launched an investigation into the fatal shooting and soon identified a suspect. Jarmarion Thompson, a 17-year-old also from Kosciusko, was charged with murder in connection with the death of Jamel Davis.
Despite his age at the time of the offense, the decision was made to try Thompson as an adult in Attala County Circuit Court. His murder trial began on Tuesday, September 10, 2024.
The proceedings concluded the following day, when the jury found Thompson, by then 18 years old, guilty of first-degree murder.
Following the conviction, Jarmarion Thompson was sentenced to 35 years in prison. He later appealed the court's decision, but the Mississippi Court of Appeals found no reversible error in his trial. The appeals court affirmed both the first-degree murder conviction and the 35-year sentence. As of the court's decision in August 2026, the case is closed.
