Teen accused of murder ordered held

Tipton

Judge Tony Childress ruled Wednesday, June 11, that detention was warranted both for the welfare of the child and protection of the public.

Childress also determined that there was enough probable cause to believe that Keaston Danterrian "Boss Man" Tipton, 17, of Dyersburg, was involved in a May 4 shooting at the Sunrise Inn. Karl Maurice Franklin, 42, of Gardendale, Ala., was shot five times and died.

Tipton and 17-year-old Darius Brown allegedly walked into a motel room expecting to rob a drug dealer, knocked over a table and began shooting, according to testimony given during Wednesday's detention hearing.

A hearing to determine whether Tipton will be tried as an adult is scheduled at 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 17.

Tipton will turn 18 on June 23.

If he is to be tried as a juvenile, his adjucation hearing is scheduled at 9 a.m. June 27.

Brown is scheduled to appear in juvenile court on Friday, June 13.

Another individual -- Wilmon Sonnie Moses II, 33, of Ridgely --has been linked to the crime. He was charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery and waived his right to a preliminary hearing in Dyersburg city court on Monday, June 9. The charge against him has been bound over to a grand jury for a possible indictment.

Dyersburg Police Criminal Investigator Monte Essary said Tipton became a suspect on May 23 after witnesses reported that he was involved. Moses and his girlfriend, Sybil Schenk, told police that they had spent the night in the Sunrise Inn and were asleep when someone knocked on their door shortly before the shooting. Moses opened the door and invited Tipton and Brown into the room. After a short conversation, Moses washed his face and left the room with Tipton and Brown.

The juveniles were in need of money and Moses reportedly noted that a man with a reputation for selling drugs was staying in another room at the Sunrise Inn. Moses told Essary that he walked downstairs with the boys, but remained at the end of the building while the two boys went inside the motel room.

Essary said Franklin was sitting on the arm of a chair occupied by a Dyersburg woman when two young black men entered the room and began shooting. The woman, who covered her face and turned away from the shooting, tentatively identified Brown in a photographic line-up, but she didn't identify Tipton, the investigator said.

When Moses returned to his motel room after the shooting, he told Schenk that he believed someone was dead downstairs.

Although Franklin bore some resemblance to the suspected drug dealer, Essary said Franklin was not the intended robbery victim. The drug dealer was staying in the room next door to Franklin, he said.

Essary testified that he filed a petition for Tipton's arrest on May 23 and talked to his mother on May 26 or May 27. Tipton's mother told Essary that she didn't know where her son was and that she had not been able to reach him through his cell phone for a couple of days.

Essary said he was told Tuesday, June 10, that Tipton had been located. He was arrested Tuesday afternoon in the Jackson office of his attorney, Dr. Bede Anyanwu.

At the time of the shooting, Tipton was on probation and had been on probation since January 2007 for unlawful possession of a firearm. His probation officer, Cynthia Lankford of the Department of Children's Services, said Tipton had received additional convictions in the last 16 months, including possession of marijuana with intent to sell, driving without a license, criminal impersonation, evading arrest and violation of a court order for failing to complete required community service work. Tipton also had outstanding probation violations prior to the shooting.

Lankford testified that Tipton met with her as required until April. In April, she said, she couldn't reach Tipton or his mother and they failed to respond to cards left at their door or to letters mailed to their home.

After hearing the testimony, Anyanwu asked why Tipton had been arrested. He said the only people to identify Tipton as a potential suspect were Moses and Schenk, both of whom are reportedly police informants. That, Anyanwu suggested, makes their statements questionable.

Anyanwu claimed that Tipton was arrested only because he has a juvenile record.

Assistant District Attorney Reneé Creasy said no witness rebutted or objected to testimony given Wednesday and that testimony placed Tipton in the room during the shooting. Regardless of whether Tipton was the shooter or a collaborator, he bears some criminal responsibility, she said.