JACKSON — The Mississippi Supreme Court on May 21 declined to hear the appeal of a Tate County man convicted in the 2022 shooting death of his girlfriend, effectively ending his bid to overturn the conviction, the court said.
The order, issued unanimously, closes out appellate review after the Mississippi Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in October 2025.
Demarcus Wooten was convicted of manslaughter after a November 2023 trial in Tate County Circuit Court and was sentenced to 20 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. He had been indicted on first-degree murder in the death of LaRhonda Jackson.
Jackson was shot in the chest Feb. 13, 2022, during a car ride with Wooten and her 2-year-old son. Wooten told investigators the shooting was accidental, saying Jackson grabbed his gun from the center console and the weapon discharged during a struggle before he crashed his SUV into a tree. Prosecutors presented forensic evidence they said showed the bullet traveled front to back and downward, and a law enforcement witness testified Jackson would have had difficulty accessing the gun in the console.
On appeal, Wooten argued the trial court improperly excluded a defense expert, allowed a law enforcement officer to offer opinions about his relationship with Jackson and gave a misleading jury instruction. The Court of Appeals found no reversible error, noting the expert was barred after the defense failed to produce a report despite multiple extensions and missed a status conference. With the Supreme Court’s denial, Wooten’s conviction and 20-year sentence stand.
