Hearing set for second teenage murder suspect

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

An 18-year-old murder suspect appeared in Newbern city court Monday afternoon without his attorney.

Colton Dequan Whitelow of Halls said his family has hired a Memphis attorney, Bill Anderson, to defend him. Anderson did not attend Monday's court appearance, which was held in the Dyer County Criminal Justice Complex courtroom for security reasons.

Whitelow, who said he'd spoken to his attorney on the phone, asked that his preliminary hearing be delayed a week and a half. He said Anderson is hiring an investigator, who'll need time to interview potential witnesses.

Whitelow has been charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault and evading arrest. He is one of three teen-agers accused of firing upon a crowd of people Feb. 27 on Grayson Street in Newbern. The trio, all of whom are from Lauderdale County, were engaged in an argument with Newbern residents when Whitelow, 15-year-old Davonta Duffie and 19-year-old Darnell Madison reportedly fired their guns. Tamara Brown, a Newbern woman who was 7 months pregnant, was shot and killed. Donald Wilkes, 42, 215 Jones St., was shot in the hip.

Newbern Judge Jason Hudson told Whitelow that his preliminary hearing had to be scheduled within 30 days of his arrest. In order to give Anderson time to investigate the case, Hudson set the hearing for 1 p.m. March 24.

Duffie is scheduled to appear in Dyer County Juvenile Court on March 28.

Madison has not been arrested yet.

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So who is going to be the first one to blame the parents and/or law enforcement. It's just a matter of time.

-- Posted by theartfuldodger on Wed, Mar 12, 2008, at 10:58 AM

Not me I blame the dunny with the gun, Bet he is wishing he wouldnt have had a gun now. Hope he gets everybit of what he deserve's

-- Posted by beat_the _system on Wed, Mar 12, 2008, at 6:23 PM

This is what we get for handing our streets to the thugs too late to bitch now. Ya gave em free reign!!!!

-- Posted by Panhead57 on Thu, Mar 13, 2008, at 10:21 AM

I never have been one to pass judgement on another but I do voice my opinion and in this case I do believe that the parents of the 15 year old should have known that their child was not one but two counties away with a gun and apparently a group of people he shouldn't been hanging with .I understand and believe that he's old enough to know what he was doing but bad upbringing has a lot to do with it too. If a child knows there are no consequences to his/her actions when mom and dad finds out then what's there to fear? right? I also believe that if the system would let parents discipline their kids the way mine did me with a good old fashion butt whooping and not holler abuse every time a kid cries then kids would walk a straighter line because "go to the corner" only works for so long. Anyway, In this situation I believe that he should be tried as an adult and given the max punishment. And as for the parents ...well I'm going to keep it respectful so I'll leave it to the imagination.

-- Posted by Michelle21 on Thu, Mar 13, 2008, at 12:39 PM