Seven defendants younger than 21 pleaded not guilty to murder Monday in the shooting death of a Vicksburg High School student.
Marquis Jovan Black, 16, Romaire Brown, 16, Christopher Devon Jones, 20, Tyler Jones, 19, DeMario Marteze Mixon, 20, Devontae Montgomery, 20, and Melvin Wiggins, 20, stood Monday before Circuit Judge M. James Chaney after being indicted by the Warren County grand jury for murder and drive-by shooting.
Chaney set separate trials for all seven for Sept. 8, though it is likely that most if not all of the trials will rescheduled.
Montgomery appeared at 10 a.m. Monday wearing street clothes. He had previously posted $50,000 bail and was released from the Warren County Jail.
The six other suspects appeared handcuffed and in orange Warren County Jail jumpsuits.
The seven are accused of killing Ke’Marvin Stamps, a 17-year-old Vicksburg High School Student, in a drive-by shooting in March on Gibson Road.
Ke’Marvin and another teen were walking in the 4900 block of Gibson Road shortly before midnight March 15 when Wiggins’ black Dodge truck approached and Ke’Marvin exchanged words with its occupants, Sheriff Martin Pace has said.
As the truck drove away, shots were fired from the truck and Stamps, a ninth-grader at VHS, was struck in the head, Pace has said.
KeMarvin Stamps, who lived on Old Gibson Road, died the next day at University Medical in Jackson from a single gunshot wound to the head, Warren County Deputy Coroner Kelda Bailess said.