Columbus man pleads guilty to murder in 2023 Starkville shooting

STARKVILLE – A 20-year-old Lowndes County man avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty to first-degree murder Thursday.

Tyshawn De’vontea Marquez Henley of Columbus was initially charged with capital murder in the April 2023 shooting death of Kirby Sherman, 31, of Starkville. Authorities said he was charged with capital murder of death because the murder took place while a theft was being committed.

Henley entered his plea last week in Oktibbeha County Circuit Court. Following the plea, Judge Michelle Easterling sentenced Henley to life in prison, the only sentence available for first-degree murder.

Starkville police officers responded to the Blake Court Townhouses, 1220 Louisville Street, around 7:30 p.m. on April 4, 2023, after receiving a report of shots fired. Responding officers found Sherman unconscious. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Henley fled the scene but was captured in Columbus less than 24 hours later by the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Fugitive Task Force.

He was charged with capital murder in September 2023. Because Henley was 19 at the time of the crime, the state could have pushed for the death penalty.

The case was originally scheduled to go to trial in January, but it was continued at least three times. The latest extension, in early August, stated that the reason for the delay was that “the defendant needed time to prepare an early plea.” The same continuance order set a status conference for October 16. It was at that hearing that Henley filed a motion to plead guilty to the lesser charge of first-degree murder.

Henley remains in the Oktibbeha County Jail awaiting transfer to the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.