A unanimous jury found Jermaine Washington Jr. guilty of first-degree murder Thursday night after nearly four hours of deliberations.

Washington now faces a life sentence for his role as the hitman in the 2018 Fourth of July death of Dorian Colston, 21, who was found shot multiple times in a vehicle parked against a tree in a ditch on U.S. 90 near Jones Road. Sentencing has been set for July 21.

Prosecutor Charles Robinson said Josiah Jackson hired Washington to kill Colston and Barry Brooks served as the middle man between the two. Brooks was initially charged with first-degree murder but took a plea deal for the lesser charge of obstruction of justice in exchange for his testimony.

Karrington Henry is accused of driving Washington to meet Colston the night of the shooting. Henry testified Washington told Colston he needed his help to commit a robbery. The pair agreed to meet on U.S. 90 outside of the Iowa, La., city limits.

Henry, who was initially charged with first-degree murder, also took a plea deal for the lesser charge of obstruction of justice in exchange for his testimony.

Jackson is out on bond, but has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder. The Calcasieu Parish District Attorney’s Office was granted a motion to compel Jackson to testify during the trial with the stipulation that what he said on the witness stand could not be used against him at his own trial.

Robinson said Washington called Colston 20 times the night of the murder to make sure “he would be in the right place at the right time — or in this case the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“He then left him there to die and went to collect his money because according to him, money is everything,” Robinson said.

Testimony

Pride Dorian, defense attorney for Washington, told jurors on Thursday the only reason cell phone towers pinged Washington’s phone to the area near the crime scene that night was because his mother’s home was on fire.

“I drove to Jermaine Washington’s mother’s house yesterday — that was the first time I’ve ever been in that area — and it was 3.3 miles from that house to the crime scene,” Pride told Calcasieu Parish Sheriff detective Lt. Travis Lavergne as he began cross-examination. “Isn’t it possible he was in the area because he was going to help his mother?”

“It’s possible,” Lavergne responded.

Lavergne confirmed to jurors that a Louisiana State Fire Marshal’s Office report concluded the fire was intentionally set. No arrests have been made in that case.

“Karrington Henry is who you are basing your case against Mr. Washington on, correct?” Pride asked Lavergne.

“He is a witness,” Lavergne responds.

Lavergne acknowledged all the players involved — Washington, Colston and Henry — used the SnapChat app, which Dorian told the jury involves “disappearing messages.”

“You didn’t check those SnapChat messages, did you?” Pride asked Lavergne.

“I could have, but like you said they are disappearing messages so we would only be able to see who they followed” on the app, Lavergne responded.

“You have no scientific, photographic or forensic evidence that Jermaine Washington had a weapon that night,” Dorian then asked Lavergne.

“No,” Lavergne said.

Henry testified on Tuesday that he told detectives the location of the murder weapon just two weeks ago. Officers were able to locate the gun in a storm drain on Opelousas Street.

“It’s interesting it took Karrington Henry four years to reveal where the murder weapon was hidden,” Dorian told Lavergne. “He was sitting on some pretty important information.”

Lavergne acknowledged Henry had three felony charges and a probation revocation dismissed in order to testify against Washington.

“And wasn’t the story Karrington Henry told (prosecutor Charles) Robinson entirely different than the story he told you?” Dorian asked Lavergne.

“Yes,” Lavergne said.

Lavergne also confirmed text message exchanges were found between Colston and a lover. The text messages show the woman didn’t want “KeKe” (Henry’s nickname) knowing the nature of their relationship.

“Isn’t that because she was sleeping with both Dorian Colston and Karrington Henry?” Dorian asked Lavergne.

“Yes,” he said.

Robinson called Henry back to the stand on Thursday and asked him about the relationship with the woman.

Henry said he didn’t find out until recently that his then-lover was also sleeping with Colston but it didn’t bother him because they “weren’t together” anymore at that time, just sleeping with each other. He told the jury he knew the lover he shared with Colston was sleeping with other people then, but so was he.

“She cheated with anybody,” Henry claimed.

Henry also confirmed he did use the SnapChat app to make messages disappear because he didn’t want his then-girlfriend to see the messages he sent to his multiple lovers.

During his closing arguments, Robinson told jurors cell phone pings show Washington was in the car with Colston minutes before the murder. Then the cell phone pings show them separating after Washington gets in the vehicle with Colston. The pings then follow Washington and Henry as the vehicle they were in traveled down U.S. 90 and onto Opelousas Street where the gun was dumped into a storm drain.

Robinson said those cell phone pings support Henry’s testimony.

During his closing, Dorian told the jury Colston’s death was “a heinous crime (committed) by despicable people.” “It’s only natural we want someone to pay,” he said. “That urge can cause us to rush to judgment over certain conclusions and ignore laws put into place to curtail just that. Are you convinced that KK’s statements are so believable that you’re willing to send this man away to life in prison?”

Dorian said Washington had no motive to kill Colston, but Henry did.

“If you take those guys (Henry and Brooks) out of the way, what else do you have?” he asked the jury. “Maps? Even Lt. Lavergne admitted that it was more of a tool to corroborate … what ‘KeKe’ says.”

He also reminded the jury that a firearms expert and forensic investigator both testified that no physical evidence ties Washington to the crime.

“Why were all three (Washington, Henry and Brooks) all charged as principal to first-degree murder? They had to pick one and they went with Washington,” Dorian said.