Teen receives 15-year prison sentence in shooting

Jamiaus Graham, 16, El Dorado, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Thursday after pleading guilty to two counts of first-degree battery and possession of a handgun by a minor.

Graham was initially charged with two counts of attempted capital murder following a December 2021 shooting incident in which two victims were shot multiple times; these charges were reduced to first-degree battery in 2022.

Graham pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement offered by the 13th Circuit Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

According to court records, Union County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a call of a shooting on Massey Drive in El Dorado on December 15, 2021, after being told that a private vehicle had transported two victims with gunshot wounds to the Medical Center of South Arkansas. Investigators responded both to the scene of the crime and to MCSA.

Investigators found a vehicle “with what appeared to be multiple bullet holes in the front body” along with shell casings at the scene. They also found, court records state, blood in both front seats of the vehicle. Two victims were identified at MCSA; the first had “multiple gunshot wounds to his upper torso and right arm” and the second had “a wound in his chest and arm.”

Sheriff Ricky Roberts spoke with one victim, who told him that he and the other victim met with a suspect known to him as “Renz” — later identified as Graham — along with a second suspect, later identified as another 16-year-old to purchase a .40-caliber handgun.

The first victim told investigators that Graham, who was sitting in the vehicle with the victims, “became angry and began cursing him” when the victim declined to give him the money until the firearm was produced.

The second victim later told in

vestigators that Graham exited the vehicle and “began firing into the front of the vehicle,” which is when both victims were struck.

The second victim told investigators that he was not sure if the second minor — who is also currently facing attempted murder charges related to the incident — was firing.

A motion by Graham’s defense attorney to transfer the case to juvenile court was denied in September 2022, with the court finding in part that “the alleged offense was committed in an aggressive, violent, premeditated and willful way” as justification for trying Graham as an adult.

Graham was sentenced to serve 15 years each for both counts of first-degree battery; the sentences are set to run concurrently.

Additionally, Graham was sentenced to serve one year in the Union County Jail for the charge of possession of a handgun by a minor, a sentence that will also run concurrently with the ADC sentence.