Bond set at $2 million and $1 million for three men charged in capital murder

Published 2:21 pm Tuesday, July 30, 2019

A municipal judge set bond for $2 million Tuesday for an 18-year-old charged with capital murder in the shooting death of Zaria A. Newton because he considers the teenager a flight risk. The other two men charged in Newton’s murder received bonds of $1 million each because they both surrendered to police.

Brookhaven Judge Brad Boerner chose a higher bond for Adrian Smith, of Brookhaven, because he was arrested at the Evers International Airport by the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority July 22.

He set bond for Jatavious Berry, 19, of Brookhaven, at $1 million. Justin Anderson, 24, of Natchez, received the same bond amount. Berry surrendered to Brookhaven police July 21. Anderson surrendered to deputies at the Adams County Sheriff’s Office July 22.

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Boerner assigned a public defense attorney for each man. Preliminary hearings will be held for each of the men after they’ve met with their attorneys.

They are accused of shooting to death Newton as she entered her house on Mason Street while the men were still inside, allegedly burglarizing the home.

A fourth suspect, Shawan Allen, 20, of Brookhaven, was killed in a shootout with law officers the afternoon of July 22 in the Beauregard community of Copiah County, just north of Wesson.

Deputies learned July 22 that Allen was hiding in a trailer on Bahala Road off Hwy. 51, Copiah County Sheriff Harold Jones said. As officers entered the trailer, Allen started firing at them, Jones said in a statement on social media. Multiple officers returned fire, he said.

A Copiah County deputy was shot in the back but was saved by his armored vest. He was transported to a nearby hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.