TEXARKANA, Arkansas -- The second of two defendants charged in a fatal 2020 shooting pleaded guilty to murder Monday in Miller County circuit court.
Cierra Nicole Gentry, 35, pleaded guilty this week in the Feb. 27, 2020, shooting of Devonta Biddle. Gentry's co-defendant, Damien Butler, 27, pleaded guilty in the case last week.
Gentry and Butler are now serving 25-year prison terms for first-degree murder.
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.
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.
Both cases were prosecuted by Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell.
Gentry, Cierra
Butler, Damien