Sentences Handed Down In 2023 Murder
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BATESVILLE – A twenty-eight year-old Coffeeville man was sentenced to 20 years incarceration for the March, 2023, murder of Chauncey Armstrong. Anthony Lavell Spearman, Jr., was sentenced by Circuit Judge Jimmy McClure during a hearing held Jan. 17 at the Panola County Courthouse in Batesville.
Anthony Spearman, Zavion Spearmen and Lakedrick Spearman were each charged with first degree murder by deliberate design and conspiracy to commit murder after Armstrong was gunned down on Kennedy Street in Coffeeville during broad daylight on Marcy 30, 2023. The charges for all three men were ultimately reduced. Anthony Spearman entered a guilty plea to manslaughter and, as the shooter, received the harshest sentence following a plea agreement negotiated by Assistant District Attorney (ADA) Marvel Gordon and public defender John Keith Perry.
Anthony Spearman’s 20-year sentence will run concurrent to a sentence handed down for a previous conviction in Grenada County. Anthony Spearman was sentenced in August, 2023, to 20 years incarceration following a conviction for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Zavion Spearman also agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. He was sentenced by Judge McClure to serve 658 days, or time served in the county jail awaiting trial. Zavion Spearman was also sentenced to 18 years and 72-days post-release supervision, five years reporting and thirteen years and 72 days non-reporting. The sentencing agreement was part of the negotiated plea by ADA Gordon and public defender Preston Ray Garrett.
Lakedrick Spearman was sentenced in December after pleading guilty to the lesser charge of Accessory After The Fact to First Degree Murder. Lakedrick Spearman was sentenced by Judge McClure in a negotiated plea to serve 627 days, or time served awaiting trial. Lakedrick Spearman was also sentenced to 18 years and 103 days of post-release supervision, five years reporting and 13 years and 103 days of non-reporting.
Law enforcement officials reported Lakedrick Spearman and Zavion Spearman are brothers and Anthony Spearman is a cousin to the brothers. Lakedrick Spearman was first to enter a guilty plea to a lesser charge and was scheduled to testify as a witness in the trials for Zavion Spearman and Anthony Spearman on Dec. 9, but both men entered guilty pleas to the lesser charge four days before the trial was scheduled.
