Gulfport man already serving a life sentence in knife attack pleads guilty to a murder
A Gulfport man serving a sentence of life without parole was given another 25-year sentence this week after pleading guilty to second degree murder.
Adisa Jemel Braziel, 35, was sentenced in Gulfport by Circuit Court Judge Christopher Schmidt to 25 years without the possibility of parole or early release, to run concurrently with his life without parole sentence he is serving in another case.
Jemel was identified as the shooter by witnesses on the scene Aug. 4, 2019, Assistant District Attorney Matthew D. Burrell said in a news release.
Gulfport police responded to calls of shots fired at Emerald Pines Apartments on 39th Avenue. They found Charles Johnson, 27, lying dead on the sidewalk between two buildings, with multiple gunshot wounds to the back.
The witnesses told investigators Braziel and Johnson were fighting over “missing items,” Burrell said in the release. Police said that led to punches being thrown, and the two men had to be physically separated.
Assistant District Attorney Ian Baker, who prosecuted the case, said Braziel went inside his home, retrieved a gun, returned and shot Johnson once in the chest, and then stood over him and fired multiple shots into Johnson’s back as he was lying face down on the sidewalk.
“This senseless murder was fueled by a night of alcohol and drug use by the defendant that led him to take the life of another,” District Attorney Crosby Parker said in a statement. “This is an important day for the family of Charles Johnson as they sought justice for the loss of a beloved son, brother, husband and father.”
Schmidt said the 25-year sentence was appropriate in this case, in light of the life without parole sentence that he previously imposed on Braziel following a jury trial last year in Biloxi.
Baker also prosecuted that case.
On June 14, 2018, Braziel showed up uninvited at an ex-girlfriend’s apartment and chased her with a knife into the neighbor’s apartment. Evidence during the two day trial showed Braziel kicked in the neighbor’s door and attempted to assault the victim with a large kitchen knife.
Police arrived to find him standing in the kitchen with a knife attempting to assault the victim.
Braziel was out on bond for the Biloxi charge when he committed the murder in Gulfport, according to the district attorney’s office, but has remained in custody since being arrested on Aug. 5, 2019.
He was indicted, tried, convicted and sentenced by the court under Mississippi’s Life Habitual statute in the Biloxi case on the charge of burglary of a dwelling with intent to assault. He is not eligible for parole or early release and must remain in prison for the remainder of his natural life.
