Greenwood, MS – District Attorney Dewayne Richardson announced today that that on January 9, 2023, Sammionte Kent of Greenwood pled guilty to two counts of Aggravated Assault, Possession of Marijuana with a Firearm Enhancement, and Felony Fleeing in front of Leflore County Circuit Judge Carol White-Richard.
On May 7, 2020, Kent led Leflore County Sheriff Department deputies on a high-speed chase from Leflore County into the city of Greenwood. Officers with the Greenwood Police Department assisted the deputies in apprehending Kent as well as the two other passengers in his car. After an inventory search of the car, officers discovered a felony amount of marijuana as well as a firearm. Kent was later charged with possession of marijuana with a firearm enhancement and felony fleeing.
Five months later, on October 25, 2020, officers with the Greenwood Police Department responded to a shots fired call at The Landing. When they arrived on the scene, officers encountered two victims who had been shot, Anthony McDowell and Lexus Darby. As the police officers and detectives processed the crime scene, Trooper Jimmy Evans with the Mississippi Highway Patrol was able to conduct a traffic stop on a car that was suspected to be involved in the shooting. After a review of the video surveillance footage from The Landing, lead detective on the case, Detective Sergeant Megan McKinnon, with the help of other detectives and officers was able to positively identify the car that Trooper Evans had stopped as being the same car as the one who shot at The Landing mere minutes before the traffic stop. Kent, who was out on bond from his previous case, was charged with two counts of Aggravated Assault.
Judge White-Richard sentenced Kent on each Aggravated Assault charge to sixteen (16) years, six (6) of those years to be served in the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with the remaining ten (10) years to be suspended upon completion of five (5) years supervised probation. Kent was sentenced to three (3) years to serve in the Mississippi Department of Corrections on the Possession of Marijuana with a Firearm Enhancement charge; and was sentenced to five (5) years to serve in the Mississippi Department of Corrections on the Felony Fleeing charge.
In Mississippi, Aggravated Assault carries a maximum sentence of twenty (20) years to be served in the Mississippi Department of Corrections; Possession of Marijuana with a Firearm Enhancement carries a maximum sentence of six (6) years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections; and Felony Fleeing carries a maximum sentence of five (5) years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
The cases against Kent were prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Amanda Sturniolo Langford who appreciates the hard work and diligence of the lead investigators on each of Kent’s cases, Sergeant Megan McKinnon with the Greenwood Police Department and Investigator Bill Staten with the Leflore County Sheriff Department. If not for the quick thinking of Trooper Evans and the multi-agency cooperation in both cases, the cases might not have been solved and the defendants might not have been brought to justice as swiftly as they were. The work on these cases shows how committed the District Attorney’s Office, the Greenwood Police Department, the Leflore County Sheriff Department, and the Mississippi Highway Patrol are to working together to make Greenwood and Leflore County a safer place to live, work, and visit.
Contact: W. Dewayne Richardson District Attorney, Fourth Circuit Court District | 662-378-2105