Orange County jury finds Durham man guilty in 2016 shooting death

A jury found a Durham man guilty Tuesday of first-degree murder in the Jan. 18, 2016, death of Tevin Kendrick, 22, of Durham.

The jury also found Andre Lamar Dixon, 24, guilty of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a felon.

The only possible sentence that Superior Court Judge Michael O’Foghludha could give Dixon for first-degree murder was life in prison. Although Assistant District Attorney Byron Beasley asked for an extra 207 to 261 months for the conspiracy charge, the judge did not add more time.

Kendrick’s mother Myra Snead, who sat daily in the courtroom for the three-week trial, leaned tearfully into her boyfriend’s shoulder as the verdict was read.

Dixon’s co-defendant, Terry Jones Jr., pleaded in August to a reduced charge of second-degree murder and is serving 25 to 31 years in prison. Another co-defendant, Devon Harris, was sentenced in October to 16 to 20 years in prison, also for second-degree murder.

Barry Holt and Jermauciyae Abram, both of Durham, also were charged with first-degree murder in the case. A fifth man, Savian Jacoby Turrentine of Durham, was charged with being an accessory after the fact to a felony.

Plea deals are pending for Abram and Turrentine, who testified against Dixon. Abram could get roughly five to seven years in prison for being an accessory after the fact to murder. Turrentine could serve 10 to 21 months for obstruction of justice.

Defense attorney Amos Tyndall said Dixon plans to appeal the case and asked the court to appoint him an appellate defender.

Shot multiple times

Investigators found Kendrick’s body just after 2 p.m. Jan. 18, 2016, behind a white Nissan Altima parked at the Efland-Cheeks Community Center off U.S. 70 West. The center is just a few hundred feet from homes and a school.

Kendrick had been shot multiple times, and the car was still running with its trunk open. Investigators recovered numerous shell casings at the scene from four weapons: 380-caliber, 45-caliber, 40-caliber and 9mm handguns.

Dixon and his co-defendants acted with malice, deliberation and premeditation to kill Kendrick — meeting the requirements for first-degree murder, Beasley said. He noted that Dixon also could be found guilty if he “acted in concert” with others who shot Kendrick.

The father of four young children was lured to the community center, Assistant District Attorney Anna Orr said. Kendrick was shot 23 times with four different weapons, a medical examiner testified, and eight bullets were removed from his body.

“The defendant formed the intent to kill prior to his act, and he acted while he was in a cool state of mind,” Orr said. “He was not provoked by Tevin Kendrick. The murder was brutal and vicious.”

Question of trust

Abram, Turrentine and a jailhouse witness tied the prosecution’s case together. Abram and Turrentine both testified that Dixon used a 45-caliber handgun to shoot Kendrick.

Tyndall maintained that Dixon never had a weapon, and no fingerprints or other evidence has connected him to a weapon. Dixon is presumed to be innocent unless the prosecution can prove otherwise, he said.

Turrentine and Abrams, on the other hand, cannot be trusted to tell the truth, Tyndall said. He noted how their stories to investigators changed multiple times and that they are cousins, and more likely to protect each other.

Durham police had found cars and weapons at the La Quinta Inn in Durham that later were connected to the shooting. A fingerprint taken from a white Altima seized at that scene was matched to Turrentine. The rest was uncovered over a four-month investigation through fingerprints, surveillance videos and multiple interviews.

Turrentine testified that he and Kendrick met the other men at the Durham hotel after getting out of prison, and then traveled with Kendrick to the community center. The others followed in separate cars, he said.

At the center, Turrentine testified that he got into the car with Dixon — Kendrick got out and stood behind his car with Jones — and asked him what was going to happen. Dixon told him, “I think we’re going to have to leave [Kendrick],” Turrentine said.

Video evidence presented to the jury showed the white Altima, which Kendrick drove, traveling toward the community center. It was followed by a black Chevrolet Malibu, owned by Jones’ girlfriend, and a bronze Nissan Altima that Dixon’s mother had rented. The footage later showed the Malibu and the bronze Altima leaving the community center toward Durham, but not the white Altima.

The jailhouse witness, Dexter Grant, testified that Kendrick was set up because they thought he was going to rob them. Grant learned details about the murder while he was in the Wake County jail with some of the defendants.

Grant, who could get reduced charges in a Wake County case in return for his testimony, initially told investigators that Jones said he, Dixon, Holt and Harris killed Kendrick. Grant later changed his story to suggest Dixon and Harris set up Kendrick.

The theory that Turrentine and Abram conspired to blame Dixon for the murder doesn’t work, Beasley said, because of the time it took for Grant to come forward with the information he learned and for his attorney and justice officials to let Orange County know.

This story was originally published November 6, 2018 at 1:59 PM.