A second person has been found guilty of murder in the 2021 slaying of Chavez Parker.
Darius Persley, 25, was convicted unanimously of second-degree murder by the eight-woman, four-man jury in Caddo District Judge Chris Victory’s court Thursday, February 13, 2025. Deliberations lasted 45 minutes.
Over the course of the trial, prosecutors called 11 witnesses to prove that defendant Persley murdered Mr. Parker, 29, on December 21, 2021 outside Parker’s home in the 6600 block of Melara Avenue. Persley arranged to meet Parker at his home under the pretext of smoking marijuana. However, evidence obtained by the Shreveport Police Department in the investigation revealed that the defendant and co-defendant Quinton Peace, convicted of murder also in November 2023, were planning a robbery. In a serious of text messages, Persley told Peace that they would obtain firearms for the robbery, and that he did not want Peace to bring anyone with him who would say anything if they had to kill someone. Evidence produced at trial showed that Parker was shot four times – once in the temple, once in the cheek, once in the neck, and once in a shoulder. Additionally, prosecutors called Phillip Stout of the North Louisiana Crime Lab to establish that the shots were fired by two different weapons of the same brand. Additionally, the state called Dr. Long Jin, a pathologist at Ocshner LSU Health, to establish that each weapon had fired a fatal shot.
The most compelling testimony at the trial concerned the decision of Persley and Peace to return to the scene of the crime following the murder, out of concern that they had left physical evidence at the scene that could link them to the slaying. Persley dropped Peace off back at the scene of the murder approximately 10 minutes after the shooting. Peace got into the victim’s car and drove it to the Linwood Home Apartments. Because he was unable to move victim Parker into the front passenger seat, Peace had to drive while seated on the dead man’s lap. As Persley and Peace were attempting to wipe the car down in the parking lot of the Linwood Home Apartments, they were caught in the act by two Shreveport Police officers on proactive patrol and were apprehended. A DNA analyst from the crime lab testified that a cloth ski mask found with the Parker car contained Persley’s DNA.
Quinton Peace was convicted of second-degree murder in November 2023. At his trial, the state was able to play for the jury a statement Peace made to police in which he admitted that he and Persley planned to rob Parker of his marijuana. Additionally Peace stated that he and Persley both were armed with SCCY 9 mm handguns. Peace was called to testify but he disrupted court proceedings, refusing to answer questions and cursing the prosecutors. Due to this prosecutors were not able to present this evidence to the jury. Peace, now serving a mandatory life sentence for his part in the slaying, was found guilty of seven separate counts of contempt of court, with Judge Victory imposing the maximum sentence on each to run consecutive to each other and the life sentence Peace now is serving.
Persley will return to court for sentencing February 24, 2025. Under Louisiana law, a second-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory life sentence without possibility of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence.
Persley was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Christopher Bowman and Bill Edwards. Carlos Prudhomme defended Persley.
The case was docket No. 386867.