A jury in Texas sentenced a man to life in prison Thursday for shooting a 16-year-old in front of his family on a residential street in Texarkana last year.
Demarius Dejuan Taylor, 21, was found guilty of murder in the March 31, 2020, death of Notorious Crabtree by a Bowie County jury after less than an hour of deliberations Thursday morning. Thursday afternoon the six men and six women tasked with deciding Taylor’s fate imposed the maximum punishment with 202nd District Judge John Tidwell presiding.
Witnesses testified that the events leading to the teen’s death had nothing to do with him and began earlier in the day on the Arkansas side of Texarkana, when Demarius Taylor’s sister, Bosnia Taylor, 22, was involved in a physical altercation with a group of girls and women on Ash Street.
A 15-year-old cousin of Notorious’ had been present at the earlier skirmish on Ash Street.
Bosnia Taylor testified that she believed she had been struck by a man during the “girl fight” and enlisted the aid of her brother. That night, Bosnia Taylor, Demarius Taylor and a group of about eight men traveled in two SUVs to Meadow-brook Lane where Notorious’ 15-year-old cousin lived with her family.
Notorious, his parents and siblings were at the Meadow-brook Lane home on the Texas side of Texarkana visiting along with other members of the Crabtree’s extended family when the Taylors and their friends arrived. While Notorious’ uncle, Ralph Crabtree, and his father, Donald Crabtree, did their best to keep things peaceful and encourage an end to the situation, there was some fighting on the street.
Witnesses testified and video surveillance from a nearby elementary school showed that the people in the SUVs were on Meadowbrook Lane for less than five minutes. Donald Crab-tree testified that nobody was fighting or threatening anyone when Demarius Taylor pointed a handgun toward him where he stood next to Notorious.
A single shot rang out and Notorious collapsed onto the pavement.
Donald Crabtree cradled his son in his arms as he took his last breath and a number of family members, including young children, witnessed it.
“I watched my son be shot, be taken,” testified Notorious’ mother, Latorya Eddings Crab-tree. “To see him drown in his own blood. You just don’t know.” As Latorya Crabtree stepped off the witness stand, she couldn’t hold back her tears. The sound of her sobbing faded as the door of the courtroom closed behind her.
Prosecutors pointed to testimony from Texarkana, Texas, Crime Scene Analyst Spencer Price who testified during the punishment phase of the trial Thursday that Demarius Taylor was arrested in California in August 2019 in possession of a loaded firearm. Arkansas Probation and Parole Officer Tina Washington testified that Demarius Taylor admitted he’d gotten the gun from a family member in Arkansas and driven with it to California.
Howard County Sheriff ’s Deputy Justin Garner testified that he and a recruit officer arrested Demarius Taylor in October 2019 with a loaded 9 mm handgun, which had been reported stolen in Oklahoma. Garner said that Demarius Taylor told him that “if I’d been by myself that night that pistol would have come out the window.” Charges remain pending against Bosnia Taylor in the case. She is being held in the Bowie County jail with bail set at $1 million.