TEXARKANA, Ark. -- Jury selection is set for later this month in the capital murder case of a man accused of killing in the course of a 2020 drug-related robbery in Texarkana, Arkansas.
Damien Damon Butler, 27, faces life without parole if convicted in the death of 24-year-old Devonta Biddle. Butler's case is set for trial March 21 in Miller County before Circuit Judge Brent Haltom. Butler's co-defendant, Cierra Gentry, 35, is scheduled for trial in April and faces the same possible punishment.
Biddle was found shortly before 9 p.m. Feb. 27, 2020, by Texarkana Arkansas Police Department officers responding to a call about a shooting and possible home invasion in the 1200 block of Linden Street, according to earlier reports.
Biddle was pronounced dead at the scene.
Biddle's girlfriend allegedly saw someone walk through the living room and alerted Biddle, who allegedly grabbed a hammer and confronted the intruder in his brother's bedroom, according to a probable cause affidavit. Biddle's girlfriend reported hearing a "scuffle" and then gunshots. She found Biddle in his brother's bedroom. He'd been shot in the head.
Butler and Gentry show the same residential address on Burnt Bridge Road in Magnolia, Arkansas, where police have conducted searches of a residence and a car and acquired search warrants for a number of cellphones and Facebook accounts. A search of a house on Pine Street in Texarkana, Texas, was also conducted, according to records.
Police have also obtained samples of DNA from both defendants.
Biddle's brother allegedly was warned by someone in Magnolia that his Linden Street house was being watched and a burglary possibly being planned. Biddle and his girlfriend were allegedly housesitting when the shooting occurred.
Investigators think Butler and Gentry planned to steal marijuana from the Linden Street house and that Biddle was shot when he attempted to stop them.
Butler and Gentry are being held in the Miller County jail.