In the early morning hours of November 20, 2021, the life of 28-year-old Oceanna Lee Hubbard, a Black/African American female from Vicksburg, Mississippi, was tragically cut short. The scene of the violence was the parking garage of the Riverwalk Casino Hotel, where Oceanna had just finished her work shift. A domestic dispute that had been escalating reached its fatal conclusion as she made her way into an elevator. It was there that she was shot multiple times in the back, succumbing to her wounds in the cold concrete structure.
The immediate investigation pointed to one primary suspect: Oceanna's husband, Cedrick L. Hubbard, Jr. Reports indicate that he had been waiting for her at the casino. Following the shooting, he fled the scene, but his freedom was short-lived. Later that same day, before noon, law enforcement officers located and apprehended him in Clinton, Mississippi. He was taken into custody without incident, and the process of seeking justice for Oceanna began.
Cedrick Hubbard was charged with first-degree murder for the death of his wife. During his initial court appearance on November 22, 2021, the judge denied him bond, and the case was bound over to the Warren County Grand Jury. The grand jury subsequently indicted him on the murder charge. In a turn of events in August 2022, Cedrick Hubbard opted to enter a guilty plea to the lesser charge of second-degree murder. This plea was accepted by Oceanna's family, who wished to avoid the trauma of a full trial and the presentation of disturbing evidence. As a result of his plea, he received the maximum possible sentence for the charge: 40 years in prison without the possibility of parole, bringing a close to the legal chapter of this devastating event.
