ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — A man has been found guilty of felony voluntary manslaughter in a shooting death in downtown Asheville on July 10, 2022.
Danquries Lamar Green was on trial for first-degree murder in the shooting of 24-year-old Jamel Ty’jon Grant. After a two-week jury trial, a Buncombe County jury found Green guilty of the lesser charge on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025.
Green claimed the shooting was self-defense, even though Grant was hit three times in the back.
Under North Carolina law, when a defendant claims self-defense, prosecutors must prove the elements of the charged crime beyond a reasonable doubt and must also prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the act was not done in self-defense.
A surveillance camera at a downtown business captured the shooting on video. The video was presented to the jury.
The N.C. Medical Examiner’s findings indicated Grant’s death was caused by “gunshot wounds of torso … Major findings at autopsy included three gunshot wound pathways. One gunshot wound pathway entered at the left back and went through the left lung and exited at the left chest. Two gunshot wounds entered at the mid right back and went through the spine, spinal cord, and right lung,” a news release from the Buncombe County District Attorney’s Office said.
Green, testifying on his own behalf, claimed Grant flashed a firearm and he believed Grant intended to rob him, the district attorney’s office said.
As a result of the jury’s guilty verdict on the lesser included charge of voluntary manslaughter, Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Grant sentenced Green to serve an active term of imprisonment of four to six years (51-74 months). At the time of sentencing, Green had accumulated 932 days of pretrial confinement to be credited against his sentence.
“Investigators with the Asheville Police Department and N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement compiled substantial evidence in support of the case. I thank the jury for their careful consideration of all the evidence and for reaching a verdict. Sadly, this is the second time this family has lost a member to gun violence within the city of Asheville and subsequently experienced a lengthy criminal jury trial. I wish them peace and healing,” District Attorney Todd Williams in the news release.
The victim’s brother Dexter Glendale Grant was shot and killed on June 21, 2021.