Guilty: Wiley convicted in murder of Jensen Beach teenager
May 15th, 2009 by TCPalm.comSTUART — After one hour of deliberation Thursday afternoon, a Martin County jury found Eric Lashawn Wiley guilty of second-degree murder in the Jan. 11, 2008, shooting death of 19-year-old Levi Dwight Starks in Stuart.
Wiley and his sister’s boyfriend were struggling over a gun after an alleged domestic dispute when the gun discharged and the .40-caliber bullet struck Starks in the chest.
In addition to second-degree murder, Wiley, 39, also was found guilty on aggravated assault and aggravated battery charges, and could face up to life in prison.
“This was a case about retaliation and about anger,” Assistant State Attorney Erin Kirkwood told jurors during closing arguments. “And the defendant’s anger led to the death of a young man, Levi Dwight Starks.”
Prosecutors said Wiley drove over to his sister’s duplex at 1623 S. Dixie Highway on the day of the shooting after he received word of a domestic dispute between her and boyfriend Aaron Stoudemire.
Witnesses testified Wiley arrived with a gun, pointed it at Stoudemire and, in the ensuing struggle, struck him in the head with the gun, causing it to fire. Starks who was standing nearby was struck and died at the scene.
“The defendant had no right to make a snap judgment and mete out punishment,” Kirkwood told jurors. “Wiley made a conscious decision to drive there and pull a gun. And now a boy is dead.”
Prosecutors did not have to prove intent to kill to establish second-degree murder, only that the death occurred while carrying out a criminal act — in this case Wiley’s assault on Stoudemire — with reckless disregard for human life.
Wiley’s attorney John Lithgow, however, told jurors Starks’ death was “a terrible tragedy” in a circle of violence caused by Mosely’s and Stoudemire’s domestic dispute.
“Dwight Starks was shot because of two guys struggling over a gun. Why were they struggling? Because Aaron was beating his pregnant girlfriend and Eric Wiley got out of his car and tried to stop it,” Lithgow said.
After his murder conviction, Wiley, who has 37 prior convictions, was also found guilty of felon in possession of a firearm charge that was tried separately Thursday.
Sentencing is scheduled for 11 a.m. July 13 before Martin County Circuit Judge Sherwood Bauer.
Jim Mayfield, TCPalm.com
Tags: death, dies, dispute, firearm, girlfriend, gun, jury, man, murder, shooting, Stuart
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November 7th, 2009 at 10:39 am
That is a shame why would you do that to my cousin cece like that and she was pregant at the time and if you would have killed her then you would have been in jail for life the rest of your life and would recieve the death penalty and you would have died and your mother and father and brothers and sisters would be crying because you killed some body REST IN PEACE DWIGHT!