TEXARKANA, Ark. -- A Magnolia, Arkansas, resident was sentenced to 25 years in prison Thursday for murder in the February 2020 shooting of a man on Linden Street in Texarkana.
Damien Butler, 27, was scheduled for a jury trial next week on a charge of capital murder in the Feb. 27, 2020, shooting of Devonta Biddle. Butler opted to take a plea offer of 25 years to a lesser charge of first-degree murder.
Butler appeared Thursday before Circuit Judge Brent Haltom with Little Rock lawyer Bobby Digby. Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell said the state acquired a signed plea statement from Butler in advance of the plea in the event that his testimony is necessary at trial for his co-defendant, Cierra Gentry, 35, of Magnolia.
Gentry is scheduled for a pretrial hearing later this month before Circuit Judge Wren Autrey. Her trial is set for mid-April.
A group of Biddle's family members sat quietly in the courtroom Thursday morning.
Biddle, 24, 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 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, 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.
Devonta Biddle (Submitted photo)