On a February night in 2021, a house party on South Eighth Street in Monroe, Louisiana, ended with the death of 29-year-old Reginald Copning. A dispute over a pack of cigarettes between Copning and another man, Teddrick Jones, escalated; Copning fled unarmed, was chased into a neighboring yard, and was shot once in the mid-back at close range. A gun light was found beneath Copning’s body.

Investigators identified Jones as the primary suspect. DNA from the gun light matched Jones, and witnesses at the party placed him in pursuit of the unarmed victim. Jones fled the scene and was later found in a hotel room and arrested. He was charged with second-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm, tried by bench trial beginning October 9, 2023, and convicted on both counts; the court imposed a mandatory life sentence for the second-degree murder, later upheld on appeal.

Did anyone at the party or who knew Reginald notice anything about the argument that night or the people who left the scene?