A man convicted of murdering a mother of three was sentenced to a total of 70 years in prison.
29-year-old Jermaine Beamon shot 24-year-old Lazuri Collins to death on July 29, 2017, around 1 a.m. on the corner of Wheeler and 13th Streets in Covington, Kentucky.
Officers say they found Collins in the driver’s seat suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. Her father, Antonio Collins, was sitting in the backseat and was also hit by bullets but survived his injuries.
In September, a Kenton County jury found Beamon guilty of first-degree assault and murder. He was sentenced to 50 years for the murder conviction and 20 years for the assault, according to Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders.
During sentencing, the defense argued Lazuri’s murder was not preplanned and was instead a mistake. They also argued Beamon “never had a chance” in life because he never knew his father and had an alcoholic mother.
A family member who raised Beamon took the stand and said that Beamon is not a murderer and is a “loving” person.
The prosecution countered saying this was Beamon’s third felony conviction involving firearms.
Beamon was an inmate in the Butler County Jail on an unrelated sentence at the time of his indictment in November 2019.
He was extradited back to Kentucky upon the completion of his Ohio sentence at the end of that year.
“We’ve been telling folks for a long time that we wouldn’t stop until we get justice for Lazuri,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Sanders said when he announced Beamon’s indictment. “This is a big step in the right direction, but we still have a long road ahead.”
Sanders said at the time he believed the arrest should have happened two years prior, but the lack of cooperative witnesses caused police to work longer to solve the case and make an arrest.
That all changed when a man detectives could prove was present for the shooting was arrested and began to cooperate with police, Sanders said.
That person, Sanders said, told detectives Beamon was the shooter.
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