Bay View homicide, Milwaukee man found not guilty at trial
Police presence at Howell and Smith in Milwaukee's Bay View neighborhood
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man accused in a 2022 fatal shooting was found not guilty at trial Thursday, Nov. 16.
Julius Coleman, 39, was charged with first-degree intentional homicide and possession of a firearm by a felon. Court records show a jury deliberated for roughly an hour and 15 minutes before delivering its verdict: not guilty on both counts. He pleaded not guilty in May 2022.
Case details
Milwaukee police were called to the city's Bay View neighborhood the morning of April 8, 2022. Officers found a man shot and sitting in the driver's seat of a car.
Lifesaving measures were attempted, but the victim, later identified as Jessie Marshall, was pronounced deceased at the scene. An autopsy found Marshall had 11 gunshot wounds, and the medical examiner's office ruled his death a homicide.
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Detectives spoke with a person who was walking by the gas station at Howell and Smith around the time of the homicide. A criminal complaint states that person saw a black car double-parked next to a red car and "didn't think anything of it at the time, but later heard two loud ‘pops' and then heard glass breaking." The black car then drove off, while the driver of the red car was "struggling," the person said.
Investigators watched surveillance footage from the area and were able to get a partial license plate for the black car, which led them to a car dealership. The complaint states a person at that dealership told police Coleman was loaned the car. The complaint also said cellphone records and cell tower mapping placed Coleman's phone "in the immediate area of the homicide" when it happened.
Weeks after the shooting, the complaint states police found Coleman with a gun in his waistband and took him into custody in regard to the Bay View homicide. The Wisconsin Crime Lab examined the gun and bullet fragments recovered from the autopsy and the victim's vehicle. The complaint states examiners found the bullets were a match for the gun found on Coleman's person.