Man pleads guilty to 2019 murder
Kentraile Collins Jr. receives 20 years in home invasion slaying
NEW BOSTON, Texas — A man scheduled for trial in the shooting death of a Texarkana husband and father has pleaded guilty and received 20 years in Texas Department of Corrections, according to Bowie County court records.
Kentraile Detrontae Collins Jr., 20, was scheduled to go on trial Wednesday in Bowie County’s 202nd District Court. Collins was one of three men charged with capital murder in the home invasion death of Craig Garner in 2019.
Collins was arrested in August 2020, a week before a trial jury found Daveon Woods guilty of capital murder in the same case. Woods was sentenced to life in prison.
Woods and Cameron Kieshaun Ware were arrested shortly after the murder.
While preparing for Woods’ jury trial, investigators determined that Collins should also be charged in the case.
Ware, Collins and Woods were all 17 at the time the crime was committed and are therefore ineligible for the death penalty.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Woods forced someone at gunpoint to give him and the other defendants a ride to the River Crossing Apartments on College Drive about 1 a.m. Nov. 9, 2019. Woods, Ware and Collins allegedly kicked in the door to Garner’s apartment where he, his wife and children were sleeping.
Garner was shot with bullets from two firearms of different caliber.
Collins was identified as a suspect after investigators received additional information from witnesses. The witnesses allegedly had been threatened to keep the information about Collins’ involvement from law enforcement.
Collins was represented by Texarkana attorney Shorty Barrett.
Ware is scheduled for a pretrial heraing Monday, according to court documents.
He remains in the Bowie County Correctional Center. His bail is set at $1 million.