Police officers leading Donny Gumbs out of the courthouse after a preliminary hearing in February. (File photo)
PHILIPSBURG--The man who shot and killed Jermain “Shabba” Emilien (21) outside Lotus Nightclub in the early morning hours of November 11, 2023, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for manslaughter.
During his trial last month, Donny Gumbs (28) did not deny ending Emilien’s life, but claimed he acted in self-defence after the deceased tried to rob him of his chains and cash at gunpoint.
However, a judge of the Court of First Instance rejected this argument in his verdict on Thursday, based on forensic evidence that showed Gumbs delivered the fatal shots from behind, when Emilien was hunched over on his knees.
Emilien was shot 10 times and died at the scene. Investigators later recovered spent shells from two different firearms, one of which was an automatic weapon. A witness testified to hearing three loud cracks followed by two volleys of machine gun fire, which was confirmed by audio recordings from a nearby surveillance camera.
In addition to the prison sentence, the judge ordered Gumbs to pay Emilien’s mother a total of US $7,000 in funeral expenses.
The prosecutor had demanded an eight-year sentence during last month’s trial. Defence lawyer Shaira Bommel pleaded for her client’s acquittal, arguing that he had not intended to kill Emilien and only acted with deadly force out of “intense panic”.
Self-defence
Gumbs told the court during last month’s trial that Emilien – who he claimed to have only met that night – drew a handgun from his waistband after they stepped into his parked vehicle around 4:00am. Emilien allegedly demanded money and his chains and hit Gumbs with the weapon when he did not immediately comply.
Gumbs said he grabbed the gun and the pair fought for control, at least until the firearm flew out of their hands and into the backseat.
According to Gumbs, this is when Emilien pulled out a second gun, which started the wrestling match all over again. The passenger door was forced open in the struggle, spilling the two out onto the dirt.
Gumbs told the court that he eventually got control of the second gun. He fired, dropped the weapon and ran toward the vehicle.
But Emilien was still coming towards him, according to Gumbs. Seeing the other gun in the backseat, he said he picked it up, pulled the trigger and was surprised when the bullets sprayed out in rapid fire.
Both guns
In his verdict on Thursday, the judge ruled that both firearms actually belonged to Gumbs.
Gumbs’ DNA was found on each weapon. His genetic material was uncovered on the magazine of the non-automatic gun, and shell casings belonging to that weapon, and was also found on three shell casings linked to the automatic weapon, suggesting he may have loaded it.
One of the nightclub’s security guards did testify that Emilien was turned away earlier that night for attempting to enter the establishment with a gun. But Emilien was later allowed entry when a subsequent check found no weapon.
A surveillance camera captured Gumbs and Emilien leaving the nightclub together around 4:00am, with Emilien stopping to hug a woman. She later told police that she did not feel a weapon under Emilien’s clothes.
The video also shows that Emilien did not retrieve anything out of his parked scooter or have something passed to him by a third person in the short walk to Gumbs’ vehicle.
Based on this evidence, “the court assumes that the defendant had both firearms in his car when he got into the vehicle with the victim,” it was stated in the verdict.
Purposeful
The judge ruled that there was a fight and likely struggle over the semi-automatic gun. He based this on wounds to Gumbs’ neck and face, blood found inside the vehicle, and Emilien’s DNA having also been uncovered on the pistol, indicative of a tug-of-war.
This was a life-threatening situation in which Gumbs had a right to defend himself, the judge ruled, adding that the self-defence scenario included the first three shots that came from the semi-automatic pistol.
One of these bullets struck Emilien in the abdomen, the only one that hit him from the front. Gun powder burns to his skin showed that the pistol had been fired at close range, which is consistent with a fight.
However, the judge ruled that this is where the self-defence scenario ended, pointing to the 13 seconds between the semi-automatic fire and the twin bursts of automatic fire from the second gun. According to an autopsy report, these nine bullets hit Emilien from behind while he was hunched over on his knees.
According to the judge, this forensic evidence shows that Gumbs was not fleeing in blind panic, as had been argued by his lawyer Bommel, but had been acting rationally and purposefully.
“The defendant must have noticed that he had emptied his Glock,” it was stated in the verdict. “The defendant then dropped the useless firearm … and went to get his second firearm from the car for a counter-attack.”
After the shooting, Gumbs “took the time to put various items back in his car, including a floor mat and both of his firearms,” the judge said. “All of this points to rational and purposeful action and cancels out a successful appeal to self-defence.”
Manslaughter usually carries a prison sentence between 10 and 12 years, but the judge went lower in this case because Gumbs is a first-time offender and because Emilien was likely “to blame for the conflict that ultimately led to the fatal shooting incident”.
