On a December morning in 2014, the sound of multiple gunshots shattered the quiet at the Augusta Arms apartment complex in Lexington, Kentucky. When police arrived around 9:30 a.m. on December 18th, they discovered a man lying wounded outside one of the apartment buildings. The victim was identified as 30-year-old Joseph Ramone Parker, a male resident of nearby Versailles. He was rushed to the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital, but he ultimately succumbed to his injuries. An autopsy would later confirm that Parker died from multiple gunshot wounds, and his death was officially ruled a homicide. He was a former lawncare employee and was survived by his parents, brother, and grandmothers.
The investigation into Parker's death quickly focused on a single suspect. The day after the shooting, Lexington police issued a murder arrest warrant for 21-year-old Jevon D. Magee. For months, Magee remained at large. In April 2015, the U.S. Marshals Task Force, in conjunction with the Lexington Robbery Homicide Unit, located and arrested him. At the time of the shooting, Magee was on shock probation, an early release from a prior prison sentence for charges including being a felon in possession of a handgun. His criminal history dated back to when he was 15 years old and was convicted as an adult for second-degree robbery.
Court records and witness testimony painted a clearer picture of the events that led to Parker's death. A witness reported seeing Parker and Magee in a physical altercation before Magee shot Parker at point-blank range. This confrontation was later described by a public defender as a 'drug deal gone bad.' The witness who saw the shooting later identified Magee in a photo lineup and also stated they saw him leave the scene with his sister, who was a resident of the Augusta Arms complex. Initially charged with murder, Jevon Donnell Magee eventually pleaded guilty to an amended charge of first-degree manslaughter, as well as being a felon in possession of a firearm and being a persistent felony offender. In March 2017, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the death of Joseph Ramone Parker.
