Finnis Butch Catledge, a 59-year-old man, was fatally shot in the early morning hours of May 12, 2015, while working as a security guard in Clarksdale, Mississippi. The incident occurred at his guard post at the Clarksdale Public Utilities power plant. An avid ham radio operator and photographer, Catledge was inside the facility's gate when he was struck by multiple rounds fired from a rifle. He was transported to a local medical center where he succumbed to his injuries.
The investigation into the homicide led to the arrest of three individuals: 21-year-old Demarcus Bryant, 20-year-old Jeremy Evans, and a 16-year-old, Kentavious 'Tay Tay' Nolan. All three were subsequently charged with murder, and bond was set at $500,000 for each. The indictment, handed down by a Coahoma County grand jury on June 1, 2016, formally charged them with first-degree murder.
The legal proceedings for the three accused individuals followed different paths. On July 31, 2018, Jeremy Evans entered a guilty plea to the lesser charge of conspiracy to commit murder. In exchange for his testimony against the other two defendants, he was sentenced to five years of probation.
Demarcus Bryant’s case went to trial, and the first proceedings in August 2018 ended in a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. Following two mistrials, Bryant was ultimately convicted of first-degree murder on November 20, 2019. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison. An appeal of his conviction was later denied. Court documents from his trial indicated that testimony suggested Bryant had planned the killing and that ten of the twelve bullet casings recovered from the scene were fired from his AR-15 rifle.
The disposition of the case against the third defendant, Kentavious Nolan, who was a juvenile at the time of the offense, is less clear from available online sources. While records confirm he was charged with capital murder, details regarding a specific trial or conviction for this offense are not readily available in the searched sources. There are public records of his incarceration and subsequent charges for unrelated offenses.
