MS Coast man going to prison for 2022 murder. Here are the details of his crime, sentence

A Moss Point man is headed to prison for 20 years for murder after pleading guilty Friday to the August 2022 shooting death of a man who had been reported missing.

Kendrick Marshone James, 27, entered the plea before Judge Kathy King Jackson. He also pleaded guilty to a felony charge of tampering with evidence.

James is going to prison for shooting and killing Derek Deion Edwards, 39. Edwards had been missing for two days before his body was found behind a home on Lily Orchard Road in the Helena community.

The judge sentenced James to a total of 40 years in prison for the murder offense, with 20 years to serve in prison and 20 years suspended.

James received an additional prison sentence of five years for the second charge. That sentence runs consecutively to the murder sentence, meaning James will serve 25 years in prison for the two crimes.

The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department investigated the case.

Margaret Baker

Sun Herald

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Margaret is an investigative reporter whose search for truth exposed corrupt sheriffs, a police chief and various jailers and led to the first prosecution of a federal hate crime for the murder of a transgendered person. She worked on the Sun Herald’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Hurricane Katrina team. When she pursues a big story, she is relentless.