Columbia man sentenced to life for teen’s murder

A Columbia man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the summer 2013 death of 17-year-old Tre’veon Marshall.

20-year-old Nicholas Thomas was found guilty of shooting Marshall in McKee Street Park by a jury in early July.

For more details on the case, click here.

Thomas was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder, and 20 years in prison for armed criminal action. The sentences will run together.

Marshall’s family and friends told ABC 17 News they think Thomas deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison.

“Tre’veon didn’t deserve it but he [Thomas] shot him so he deserves to sit in prison,” Marshall’s friend, Deshayda Bradford, said.

Boone County Assistant Prosecutor Tracy Gonzalez said she hopes the sentence will bring peace to Marshall’s mother, Swanetta.

“There is no jury verdict or sentence given that will ever bring her son back,” Gonzalez said.

She told ABC 17 News she’s also hoping the sentence will curb the crime in Columbia by sending a message.

“We would hope that the message would go out, put your guns down, stop the shootings, that there can be consequences and should be consequences when people engage in that type of activity,” Gonzalez explained.

But Marshall’s cousin Porcha Marshall doesn’t think it will.

“People take pride in shooting and getting street cred so I don’t think this will do anything honestly,” she said.

Now that the trial is over and Thomas is sentenced, the family is focused solely on remembering Tre.

“He’s so goofy. He was always bullying everybody because he was bigger than everybody,” Bradford remembered.

“I just miss everything about Tre’veon,” Marshall said.

The other man charged in the murder, Joshua Murray, is scheduled to begin his jury trial on August 27.