NEW BOSTON, Texas: A Bowie County jury found one of three teens accused in the shooting of a Texarkana man guilty of capital murder Thursday.
Daveon Woods, aka “Shoota,” was sentenced by 202nd District Judge John Tidwell to life in prison. Woods, Cameron Ware and Kentraile Collins Jr. are accused of kicking in the door of the apartment where 31-year-old Craig Garner lived with his pregnant wife and two young children at about 1 a.m. Nov. 9, 2019.
Woods is the first of the three defendants to face a jury. Ware testified against Woods. Collins was arrested and charged with capital murder in the case last week.
In her closing arguments, First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp told the jury that Collins was upset at a man he had allegedly tried to rob the day before in the parking lot of River Crossing Apartments. The man managed to take the gun away from Collins, who then recruited Woods and Ware to help him rob him at his apartment.
When Woods, Ware and Collins went to the River Crossing Apartments at 1 a.m. Nov. 9, they went to Garner’s apartment mistakenly. After kicking in the apartment door, Garner got out bed and was shot in the doorway of his bedroom by Woods. The .40 caliber bullet struck Garner in the head and he died on the operating table at a local hospital.
Crisp asked the jury to convict Woods of capital murder and give justice to Craig Garner, his wife and their three young children.
” Imagine if you are in the bed, with your wife whose pregnant and your child and a child in the next room and you don’t have peace and safety in your own home,” Crisp said.
Woods was represented by Texarkana attorney Jeff Harrelson.
Capital murder is usually punishable by the death penalty or life in prison without parole for individuals 18 or older. Woods was 17 at the time of Garner’s murder and will be eligible for parole after 40 years. Ware and Collins were also both 17 at the time of the shooting and face life with parole possible after 40 years if convicted of capital murder.
