Staff report

BEAUMONT – Damarcus Deshun McGhee, 21, was sentenced to 40 years in prison Friday by Judge John Stevens for the Jan. 17, 2017, murder of James “Champ Joe” Jones III, 26, of Port Arthur.

McGhee, who pleaded guilty Wednesday, was sentenced to an additional 20 years in prison for aggravated assault for shooting Fredrick King.

Officers were sent to the 6600 block of Highway 105 in Beaumont on Jan. 17 to investigate a shooting. There, they found King with a gunshot wound to the face.

While investigating King’s shooting, they received a call about an unresponsive person in a motor vehicle nearby at 6030 Alpine Circle, an apartment complex, also in Beaumont. Jones was found there slumped over the steering wheel of the motor vehicle.

Both Jones and King had bits of potato in their hair. Potatoes are sometimes used as a homemade silencer, police said. Officers decided the shootings were connected, visited King at the hospital and King identified McGhee as the person who shot him and Jones.

Officers spoke with McGhee the next day; he admitted shooting King and Jones, police said.

Beaumont Police investigated the case; Assistant District Attorney Mike Laird was the prosecutor.

“Too many young people are dying violent deaths in our community,” Laird said in an issued statement. “Law enforcement is doing a great job in solving these crimes. I wish we could convince our youth there is a better way to resolve conflict.”