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Trial begins for 22-year-old Beaumont man accused in 2020 shooting death

Deshaun Tremaine Manuel, 22, is accused of fatally shooting Jacoby Jackson, 25, in the head and the back.

BEAUMONT, Texas — Opening statements began Tuesday in the trial of a 22-year-old Beaumont man accused of fatally shooting another 25-year-old man in 2020.

Before opening statements began Tuesday afternoon in Criminal District Court before Judge John Stevens the indictment was read and Deshaun Tremaine Manuel, 25, indicated he was pleading not guilty to the first-degree felony murder charge.

Prosecutor Daniel Boyd told jurors in his opening that evidence would show that Manuel shot Jacoby Jackson in the head outside a “party house.”

Manuel then stood over Jackson, who was 25-years-old at the time, and shot him in the back Boyd told jurors.

Defense attorney James Makin countered in his opening statement saying that evidence would show something very different and that the house where the shooting happened was a dangerous place to go.

Credit: Jefferson County Sheriff's Office

He told jurors that Jackson was the aggressor and shot at Manuel first.

"When someone pulls a gun on you, you can shoot back," he told the jury.

Manuel, who turned himself in four days after the shooting, was indicted along with another suspect, Joseph Matthews, in the November 202 shooting according to file stories. Matthews has not been tried in the case yet.

Jackson's body was found in the street in the 1600 block of Glasshouse Street in Beaumont at about 3 a.m. on a Sunday morning.

Another 20-year-old man was taken in a car to St. Elizabeth's hospital with gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening, and he was treated and released.

A week before the shooting at the “party house” on Glasshouse St Manuel had tried to hit on Jackson’s girlfriend during a party Boyd told jurors.

There was an “encounter” between the two men then, but they did not get into a fight Boyd told them.

But evidence will show that a week later when the two saw each other at the same house Manuel asked Jackson to step outside Boyd said in court.

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The two men then argued before Manuel shot Jackson Boyd said.

The first witness to take the stand was Beaumont Police Sgt Shawn Tolley who is the 911 Operations Supervisor.

Tolley testified about the 911 calls that came in the night of the shooting and then the jurors got to hear those 911 calls.

This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.

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