Charles Ike Mason IV guilty of murder in County Line slaying. Here’s what to know
A Jackson County jury convicted Charles Ike Mason IV of first-degree murder and four counts of aggravated assault for opening fire into the County Line Bar after being thrown out. The judge sentenced him to mandatory life in prison plus additional time for the assault charges.
FULL STORY: MS Coast man guilty in deadly bar shooting. ‘All you had to do was leave.’
Here are key takeaways:
• Who he is: Mason, 24, of Lucedale, was 21 at the time of the March 9, 2024, shooting at the bar on Highway 613 in rural Jackson County.
• What happened: According to testimony, Mason started a fight with another customer after singing karaoke. After being thrown out, he went to his car, retrieved a shotgun and fired eight rounds into the bar.
• The victim: Richard Allen Davis, 28, was struck by two gunshots and died at the scene, according to state medical examiner Dr. Staci Turner.
• The verdict: The jury convicted Mason on all five counts after about an hour of deliberation.
• The sentence: Circuit Judge Calvin Taylor imposed a mandatory life sentence for murder plus 20 years for each aggravated assault count, to run concurrently. “All you had to do was leave, and you didn’t,” Taylor told Mason.
• Co-defendant: Jesse Donovan Holifield, also of Lucedale, who went to the bar with Mason, is charged as an accessory after the fact.
• Defense argument: Defense attorney Dustin Thomas described the bar altercation as a melee involving multiple “regulars” and argued, “While this was certainly a tragedy, this was not first-degree murder.”
The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The full story in the link at top was reported, written and edited entirely by journalists.
