Warren jurors to hear case of Coast teen

Published 12:29 pm Tuesday, May 4, 2010

A group of Warren County jurors will serve this week in the Jackson County capital murder trial of a Moss Point teenager.

Tevin Benjamin, 16, is accused in the 2008 shooting death of Hattiesburg resident Michael David Porter. He is the third to be tried in the case, said Jackson County Circuit Clerk Joe Martin.

Darwin Wells and Terry Hye Jr., also teenagers, were convicted in separate trials. Hye was sentenced to life without parole, and Wells was sentenced to life but will be eligible for parole when he is 65, Martin said.

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A fourth defendant, Alonzo Kelly, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact and was sentenced to time served.

Jackson County Circuit Judge Dale Harkey granted the change of venue for jury selection for Benjamin’s trial, expected to get under way Wednesday in Pascagoula and continue to Friday, “or possibly into the weekend,” Martin said.

Warren County residents were summoned to Circuit Court this morning for jury selection, but a representative at the clerk’s office could not confirm how many were summoned.

Porter, who was 44, was shot Oct. 23, 2008, at a Moss Point gas station while on his way with his wife to their grandson’s football game. Police said a group of teens tried to rob Porter, who struggled and was shot as he tried to drive away.