Three suspects found guilty in killing of Kendrick High senior receive life sentences
Three suspects found guilty of murder in the 2017 fatal shooting of Kendrick High School senior Javion Shorter were sentenced Friday in Muscogee Superior Court.
The three were Nashira Kendra Miller, 23; Daijon Dawayne Williams, 23; and Javon Quindarius McClendon, 21, each found guilty of murder and aggravated assault in Shorter’s shooting on Nov. 17, 2017.
Jurors found Miller and McClendon guilty of felony murder for causing Shorter’s death while committing the felony of aggravated assault. They found Williams guilty also of malice or intentional murder.
Here are the sentences Judge Ben Land gave them:
- Williams, who prosecutors said was the one who shot Shorter, was sentenced to life without parole.
Miller, whose argument with Shorter provoked the shooting, was sentenced to life with possible parole.
- McClendon, who drove Williams to the place where Shorter was shot, was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.
Those sentenced to life with parole typically serve 30 years before they are eligible for release.
“Gun violence in Columbus is a plague, is a problem,” said Land, who condemned the “cavalier use” of guns in the incident. “It cannot be accepted. It cannot be tolerated.... It makes no sense. It reflects a lack of conscience and respect for human life.”
Police found Shorter shot in the left arm and abdomen when they were called around 2:30 a.m. to Building 14 of Ballard Way Apartments, 5600 Hunter Road, where Shorter was assaulted after a fight with Miller.
Assistant District Attorney Chance Hardy in his opening statement said Williams, the father of Miller’s child, went looking for Shorter that night, claiming Shorter had “put hands on” Miller during their dispute. McClendon, Williams’ friend, stole a pickup truck and drove Williams to the Hunter Road apartments, where police believe Williams shot Shorter at Miller’s direction, Hardy said.
Family speaks
“I just pray that all three of y’all get yourselves right with God.... You need to repent of what you’ve done,” the victim’s mother Tangi Shorter told the defendants in court Friday.
She said she never approved of her son dating Miller: “I didn’t like the things she said about my family,” she testified. At one point, she told her son, “If you don’t leave this girl alone, you’re going to wind up dead or in jail,” she said, adding she still regrets using those words.
The father, Reginald Shorter, testified that his son died in the hospital on Nov. 19, 2017, two days after he was shot. “A part of me died that day,” he said, testifying that the family now marks Javion Shorter’s birthday at the cemetery, where they talk to his headstone.
An aunt, crying as she testified, read a note from Javion Shorter’s daughter, now growing up without her father. “I miss my Daddy,” it read in part. “I’m 5 years old. I love my Daddy.”
The aunt turned to the defendants and said, “I don’t understand why, why did y’all have to take him from us?”
This story was originally published November 19, 2021 at 4:33 PM.