HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Two residents of the Crewe area of Nottoway County accused of murdering a 30-year-old Southhampton County man in Henrico may face up to life in prison as new charges have been filed against them.
33-year-old Deontae Marquel Winston and 36-year-old Katoya Brown are each facing one count of first-degree murder and four counts of abuse of a child and disregard for life, as well as use of a firearm while committing a felony, in connection to the fatal shooting of Julian McClenny.
According to the Henrico County Division of Police, the shooting took place on Sept. 2 in the Short Pump area of Henrico County. Winston and Brown were initially charged with malicious wounding and use of a firearm while committing a felony, but after McClenny died on Sept. 5, police began to investigate the matter as a homicide and upgraded charges to second-degree murder.
Upon further review, the cases of both Winston and Brown were brought forth to the Richmond Metropolitan Multi-jurisdiction Grand Jury, which encompasses the City of Richmond and the counties of Chesterfield, Henrico and Hanover.
According to court filings, the grand jury determined that both defendants did “unlawfully and feloniously kill and murder Julian McClenny in the first degree.” In addition, four counts of abuse of a child and disregard for life were added as Henrico Police confirmed Winston and Brown “had their four children with them in their vehicle on the night of the shooting.”
8News consulted with 8News legal analyst Russ Stone, who explained the distinction between first-degree murder and second-degree murder.
“A second-degree murder is a murder that is done with malice aforethought, basically an evil intent, but it doesn’t necessarily require that a person had a willful, deliberate and premeditated action. First-degree murder is that extra step where it is a willful, deliberate and premeditated killing with malice,” said Stone. “The penalties are drastically different — second-degree murder carries up to 40 years, first-degree murder is 20 years to life. It is now much more serious for the defendants that are charged with murder, first-degree murder.
The additional charges of abuse of a child and disregard for life only add to the murder charge. Stone explains the charge in itself has multiple factors at play.
“It’s sort of colloquially referred to as child abuse, it also can involve neglect, it also can involve just putting a child in a situation where they may be become delinquent,” Stone explained. “The children don’t have to have necessarily been hurt, but you can be convicted under those statutes if you’re just involving the child in a crime.”
According to Stone, if found guilty of all charges, Winston and Brown would face a possible 20 years for the child abuse charges, a potential life sentence for the charge of first-degree murder and a mandatory minimum of three years for the charge of use of a firearm while committing a felony.
“What a [defense] attorney is going to have to figure out is probably whether or not they want to try to have all those cases heard in one trial or whether there might be a legal basis to separate some of them,” Stone said.
Stone said the presiding judge may rule against having the cases separated if it is proven that the children were in fact present during the shooting. Attorneys representing the Commonwealth would then have to provide beyond reasonable doubt that the defendants did in fact commit the crimes they are accused of.
Both defendants are being held without bail and are due in court Jan. 11. Due to the seriousness of the cases, Stone says the matter may take six months to a year to reach a resolution.
