A Clarksdale man will spend the rest of his life in prison after he was found guilty Wednesday, Jan. 30 by a Coahoma County jury of the murder of two men outside a Clarksdale club in April 2015.
Anthony Edtrel Giles was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole by Circuit Court Judge Albert Smith on Jan. 30. Giles, who had been lodged in the Coahoma County Jail, will be transported to the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
The sentencing came after a jury found Giles guilty of two counts of first-degree murder after a trial that lasted three days at the Coahoma County Courthouse. Prosecuting the case were assistant district attorneys Walter Bleck and Stephanie Brown, while Giles was represented by attorney Azki Shah.
Giles was arrested by the Clarksdale Police Department on April 15, 2015, and charged with the shooting deaths of J.C. Miller and Anthony Stevenson outside Club Deuce 2 in the early morning hours of April 2.
In a story printed April 16, 2015, in the Press Register, Assistant Police Chief Robbie Linley said, “There was a verbal argument that turned into a physical altercation that led to the shooting.”
In other recent happenings in the Coahoma County Circuit Court:
* Demarcus Gibson, 28, a Clarksdale man who has been incarcerated at the Coahoma County Jail since Nov. 23, 2018, pled guilty on Jan. 8 to a charge of robbery. He was sentenced by Smith to 10 years in prison.
Gibson had originally been indicted on charges of simple assault on an elderly person and an elderly enhancement in addition to the robbery charge, but prosecutor Stephanie Brown agreed to drop those two charges in exchange for Gibson’s guilty plea.
A grand jury indictment report shows that on June 15, 2017, Gibson took more than $100 and assaulted the victim, who was over the age of 65.
* Two individuals received probation after they pled guilty on Jan. 22 to assisting in the escape and concealment of an inmate from the Coahoma County Jail on Aug. 11, 2017.
Jaquanna “Quanna” Walls, 20, of 266 W. First St. in Coahoma, was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Charles Webster to three years of probation for her role in assisting Marquis Jumarlo “Marlo” Stevenson in his escape from jail.
A grand jury indictment said that between Aug. 11 and Oct. 1, 2017, Walls provided street clothing to Stevenson to change out of his orange inmate jumpsuit and also gave him money.
Michael “Kyte” Smith, 25, of 325 Coldwater River Road in Jonestown, pled guilty to accessory after the fact and also received three years of probation from Webster.
The grand jury indictment says that Smith provided Stevenson with his own personal identification information on Aug. 31, 2017, to help Stevenson avoid arrest.
On Aug. 11, 2017, just two weeks after Stevenson’s arrest for the murder of Marvin Leflore, he and three others – Cordarius Thomas, Percy Bryant and LeAndrew Booker – would escape from the jail. While the other three would be found within a week, it wouldn’t be until Oct. 3, 2017, when police would capture Stevenson in a residence in Horn Lake.
Stevenson is currently serving a life sentence for Leflore’s murder as he’s incarcerated at the Wilkinson County Correctional Center in Woodville.
* Gail Gibson, 69, of 11962 Watkins Glen Circle South in Arlington, Texas, received three years’ probation by Judge Webster on Jan. 14 after she pled guilty to three counts of obtaining a controlled substance.
Webster agreed to withhold acceptance of the guilty plea and adjudication of guilt and imposition of sentences pending Gibson successfully meeting the probation requirements, as well as her continued attendance at a treatment center and at least two Narcotics Anonymous meetings per week.
Gibson had been indicted Dec. 6, 2018, by a Coahoma County grand jury on three counts of unlawfully obtaining temazepam, a schedule IV narcotic, on Feb. 14, March 22 and April 26, 2018.
* Laqueta Walker, 33, of 1070 Vincent St. in Clarksdale, received five years of probation after she pled guilty on Jan. 9 to fraudulent use of identity. The sentence was handed down by Webster.
A 2017 grand jury indictment says that on four occasions between Oct. 4, 2014, and June 29, 2015, Walker obtained a credit card using the identity of four different individuals. As part of her sentence, Walker was ordered to pay back $8,702 at the rate of $250 per month to the victims.
Walker also on Jan. 9 entered a guilty plea to felony fleeing. A grand jury report said Walker failed to stop her motor vehicle when a police officer tried to stop her on Aug. 10, 2018. The five years of probation she received in the fleeing charge will run concurrently to the five years she received for identity fraud.
