In April of 2019, on a late evening on Oak Street in Indianola, Mississippi, Deaubrey Roscoe, a male, was found in his front yard suffering from two gunshot wounds. He was discovered in a pool of blood and later died from his injuries. An autopsy would later show he had been shot in the right upper arm and the right upper back.
The events leading to the shooting began with a physical altercation between Roscoe and a man named Samuel Barnes. Later that evening, Roscoe was lured out of his house. At that point, he was not considered a threat to anyone. Damian Buck, Samuel Barnes's brother, became involved. Buck testified that Roscoe drew a weapon and shot at Barnes, hitting him in the leg. Buck claimed he then drew his own weapon and fired twice as he ran for cover. He was unsure if he had hit Roscoe. After learning of Roscoe's death later that night, Buck turned himself in to law enforcement.
Both Damian Buck and Samuel Barnes were arrested for their roles in Deaubrey Roscoe's death. The Indianola Police Department charged Damian Buck with first-degree murder. His case went to trial, and after about four hours of deliberation, a Sunflower County jury found him guilty of the lesser-included offense of manslaughter. They also found him guilty of a firearm enhancement for possessing a firearm during the commission of the felony.
The court sentenced Damian Buck to twenty years for the manslaughter conviction, with fifteen years to be served in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and five years of post-release supervision. He also received a concurrent five-year sentence for the firearm enhancement. Buck later appealed his conviction, arguing that the jury's verdict was against the weight of the evidence and that he had acted in self-defense. The Mississippi Court of Appeals upheld his conviction and sentence. Samuel Barnes's case was separated from his brother's and was scheduled for trial at a later date.
