Jury sentences Port Arthur man week after he was found guilty in Beaumont killing
Published 1:27 pm Thursday, April 18, 2024
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A jury has sentenced Ronald Babino to 22 years in prison in connection to the fatal shooting of Richard Shillow of Beaumont.
Babino, of Port Arthur, was found guilty by a jury in Judge Raquel West’s 252nd District Court April 10 and the punishment was handed down Thursday.
West said Babino receives credit for the time he has been in jail awaiting trial.
Babino, who was one of five people arrested in connection with the Beaumont homicide, was indicted in June of 2022 by a Jefferson County grand jury.
Co-defendant Joseph Freeman, 19, is set to go to court June 3 in the 252nd District Court, and Charles Verdine, 20, is set to go to court June 10, according to information from the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office.
Kaylon Johnson, now 18, was a juvenile at the time of the crime and later certified to stand trial as a adult.
He pleaded guilty to murder July 25, 2023, and was sentenced to 25 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Richard Shillow’s death occurred in the 2200 block of West Virginia Street in Beaumont at 7:28 p.m. March 22, 2022.
Security footage obtained near the area showed two men approaching the victim in his parked vehicle, opening the passenger door and firing at least one round, documents say.
At approximately 11:30 p.m. the same day, a Beaumont police officer was flagged down at a gas station in the 3000 block of West Cardinal Drive in reference to an auto theft.
Surveillance video from that crime reportedly showed the same vehicle and suspects involved in Shillow’s shooting.
The theft victim was able to track the vehicle, and officers located it in the area of The Avenues. A brief vehicle chase occurred before the driver stopped at The Woodlands of Beaumont apartment complex and five men fled on foot, the documents say.
With the assistance of a K-9, five suspects were arrested.