Jury returns verdict in Simon City Royal's murder trial

A Harrison County jury that deliberated for three hours found Joshua Peterman guilty of first-degree murder Friday afternoon in the September 2015 death of 29-year-old Tena Broadus of Gulfport.

His sentencing is set for July 12. If he is sentenced as a lifetime, habitual offender, as the district attorney's office is arguing that he should be, 31-year-old Peterman will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Peterman, who had several outbursts during the trial, was silent after the verdict was announced, and looked over at jurors as a group of deputies led him from the courtroom.

Peterman helped to deliver his own closing arguments Friday morning.

He denied any involvement in Broadus' murder as he stood before the jury, his demeanor anxious and shaky.

"I haven't slept one time the whole trial," he said. "I'm sorry I'm shaking. I'm fixing to lose my life here if I don't prove this to y'all."

Peterman did not take the stand in his own defense during the trial. In closing arguments, he denied any connection.

It is unusual for defendants to participate in closing arguments. The prosecuting and defense attorneys almost always deliver those remarks.

In the other half of the closing argument, Peterman's attorney, Phil Wittman, attacked the credibility of the prosecution's witnesses. Four of them are heavy methamphetamine users who are in jail for their parts in Broadus' 2015 murder.

But Assistant District Attorney Crosby Parker, who spoke first, anticipated the defense's strategy, and explained the investigation relied on the witnesses at hand. All of them were getting high at Peterman's house the day Broadus died.

"Plans hatched in hell don't have angels for witnesses," Parker said. "These are meth heads and these are his (Peterman's) meth heads."

Broadus died a slow and torturous death on September 18, 2015, in a garage behind Peterman's home on O'Neal Road. He dumped her body head first into a trash barrel, burned it up, then returned the next morning to retrieve the smoldering remains. Peterman threw Broadus' bones and skull into the Biloxi River.

The families of Broadus and Kari Parker, one of the defendants, were in the courtroom.

During closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Mitchell Owen had the last word: "They're the dregs of society. But at least some of them had the decency to come in here and tell you what happened, because it was wrong."

Gulfport Police Detective Bruce Archebelle investigated the case. Police spokesman Clayton Fulks said: "He followed up on every lead. The followups and tips that came in from the community, combined with a very thorough investigation, got us where we are today."

This story was originally published June 29, 2018 at 10:26 AM.