Dupas Sentenced to Life for 2021 Gang-related Homicide in Wilson Apartments

A man convicted in February of a Columbus gang murder was sentenced late Thursday afternoon in Muscogee County Superior Court.

Davion Dupas was sentenced for murder and gang involvement.

Two other members of the Insane Crips criminal street gang, Corey Troupe Jr. and Jeheim Davis were also convicted on gang and criminal damage charges. It was the result of Marcel Samedi’s shooting death at Wilson Apartments in 2021.

It was a gang feud gone wrong, and Dupas ended up killing a member of his criminal street group.

Dupas was sentenced to life in prison with the chance of release for murder, plus an additional 17 years, 12 for criminal damage and gang charges. Davis received an 18-year sentence, 12 of which were to be served. Troupe, who came to Columbus from South Carolina with Samedi, was sentenced to ten years in prison, five of which he will spend.

The jury cleared Troupe and Davis of murder charges.

Samedi died on June 5, 2021, in Wilson Apartments, a public housing development off Veterans Parkway near River Road.

The case took three weeks to try and was prosecuted by the Georgia Attorney General’s Office gang prosecution section based in Atlanta. Thomas Kegley was the chief prosecutor, and he sought the maximum sentence. Shawn Hoover, a public defender from Atlanta, represented Davis.

The two attorneys reacted extremely differently to the outcome.

“It’s a victory,” Kegley declared. “You’re familiar with our gang prosecution section and the attorney general’s office. We’re going into two communities and working to ensure that the residents are safe in their homes and neighborhoods. So the jury’s verdict and the judge’s sentencing reflect the community’s wish to be secure under those conditions.”

Hoover disagrees with how the state is implementing the gang legislation.

‘Essentially, what they’re doing is forming a task force with their office, and it’s a team that handles homicides,’ he explained. “And if they suspect anybody is a member of a gang, they add gang charges, which I believe overcharges everyone. It’s like a net that they cast out there.”

He brings up this case.

“There was a 52-count indictment,” he explained. “The majority of the counts on this indictment were related to the gang and had nothing to do with the murder, the actual shooting, or the victim in this case. They overcharge the gang because that’s what they’re forcing down the people’s throats right now.”

This case isn’t over.

Elysia Cooley, an avowed member of the Insane Crips, is still facing state charges. She was arrested on murder and gang-related accusations. She was supposed to stand trial alongside the others, but she didn’t because she agreed to testify for the state.