A Texarkana, Ark., man who killed over a parking spot at a State Line Avenue convenience store last year was sentenced to life plus 15 years in an Arkansas prison by a Miller County jury Wednesday evening.
Stanton pulled into the parking lot of the Raceway convenience store about 10 p.m. on a white motorcycle Sept. 25. Several of Stanton's friends pulled their bikes into slots at the front of the store, but Stanton pulled up next to a pickup which sat idling in an area where he and his fellow riders typically liked to park.
Jesse James Hamilton, 22, was about to pull his truck out of the station when Stanton shouted, "Get out of my (expletive) parking space," repeatedly. Hamilton and his passengers, Lavon Strong and Sanmarcos Jacobs, got out of the pickup, and Hamilton faced Stanton.
Under questioning by Little Rock lawyer Jason Files, Stanton, who took the stand Wednesday morning, told the jury he thought Hamilton's truck belonged to a friend of his, Steven Moore, and that he was just kidding around when he said, "Move your truck."
Under cross-examination by Miller County Prosecuting Attorney Stephanie Black, Stanton denied using the expletive and quickly lost his composure. Stanton's voice rose to a boom as he talked over Black, rambled and made excuses.
"I better not hear another outburst like that," warned Circuit Judge Kirk Johnson during Stanton's time on the stand.
Stanton claimed Hamilton and his friend, Lavon Strong, 23, were "talking trash," and that a fist fight between him and Hamilton that lasted 25 seconds left him feeling his life was in danger and that he had no option but to pull his fully loaded, holstered .45 semiautomatic and pull the trigger.
Stanton testified that Hamilton told him he had five seconds to get out of his face and had spoken the word "one" when Stanton said, "two, three, four, five," before shoving Hamilton.
"Mr. Stanton started this fight with his words, he started this fight with a shove, and he ended this fight with a bullet," Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Cotten argued in closing remarks.
Strong testified Tuesday that Hamilton was just trying to make sense of the situation when Stanton told the men he is a Marine and lifted his shirt to reveal his gun. Stanton said he shoved Hamilton because he feared Jacobs, whom he described as standing in a "gangster pose" with his hands in front of him and his feet apart, might be armed.
Strong said Hamilton, who was less than 6 feet tall and weighed 177 pounds, hit the truck hard when a 345-pound, much larger Stanton, pushed him. To Stanton's surprise, Hamilton's reaction was to punch him in the face. The two men struggled for 25 seconds, and Hamilton was getting the best of Stanton when Stanton's friend, Emily Robinson, began pulling Hamilton by the back of his shirt.
The men separated, and Stanton drew his gun and fired. Hamilton's gut was in shreds, and the bullet nicked his aorta. About four hours later, he died on an operating table.
"Mr. Stanton is used to bullying everyone around," Black argued in closing remarks. "He never thought Jesse Hamilton could get the better of him. What if we tell the public that you can start a fight and if you start losing you can pull out a gun and shoot?"
Hamilton's mother and widow brought jurors to tears with their testimony during the punishment phase of Stanton's trial.
"It wasn't a movie, and it wasn't a dream, and it wasn't a nightmare," Hamilton's mother testified of the night police officers came to her home and gave her the news of her son's death. "His friends and family have all been given a life sentence. We will miss him so much."
Hamilton's wife, Anna, the mother of his 2-year-old, said the sad truth that her daughter will grow up with no memory of her father haunts her.
"He won't be there when she starts kindergarten or to walk her down the aisle," Hamilton's widow said. "This man will get visitation. He'll get letters. He'll get phone calls. We don't get any phone calls. We have pictures with no words. Just a face that will never come home."