Another man pleads guilty to murder in 2023 Dove Drive shooting
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Editor's Note: The charges the defendant pleaded guilty to have been corrected.
A Columbia man accused in the fatal shooting of a man in June 2023 on Dove Drive has pleaded guilty to a lesser murder charge.
Deazes Turner, 22, appeared in court via Zoom from the Cooper County Jail and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Thursday. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison. He was previously charged with first-degree murder, three counts of armed criminal action and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon.
Updated court documents say Turner, Deljuan Turner and Alqueze Jones shot and killed Deshon Houston, 33, on June 26, 2023, from a white 2017 Ford Explorer driven by Ja’Shaun Barney; while Bryton Allen also shot at Houston from an Acura MDX driven by Damarkus Williams. Court documents filed on Wednesday say a second man was also shot on that day.
Investigators linked seven suspects to the shooting through witness descriptions of two vehicles and data from a stolen SUV that crashed while fleeing the scene. Both sides had more than 100 witnesses ready to go for this case if it went to trial.
On June 26, 2023, police found Houston shot in the head outside a home in the 3200 block of Dove Drive. Witnesses reported seeing the gunmen firing at Houston and another man through the sunroof of one of the vehicles.
Officers later found a crashed Ford Explorer with bullet holes but couldn't find those inside. Deazes Turner, Deljuan Turner and Jones were later found in Oklahoma and arrested June 2024.
Several men have taken plea deals in the shooting. Deljuan Turner pleaded guilty in November to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 21 years in prison. Jones, 21, pleaded guilty that same month to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 21 years in prison.
Allen, 22, pleaded guilty in July 2024 to second-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon and was sentenced to 20 years. He was also sentenced to four years in prison in an unrelated case where he pleaded guilty to resisting arrest in 2021.
Barney, 20, is charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon and first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond and has a hearing scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Thursday, June 5.
Williams, 20, is charged with first-degree murder, three counts of armed criminal action and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon. He is being held at the Boone County Jail and has a hearing scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Monday, April 28.
Jajuan Crockett, 23, is charged with first-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon, armed criminal action, first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle, accessory to stealing, stealing more than $750 and tampering with evidence. A jury trial is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 10. He is being held in the Missouri Department of Corrections and is serving a six-year sentence in an unrelated case.
All of the men accused were previously charged with first-degree murder.
