SAN ANTONIO – More than seven years after 4-year-old De-Earlvion Whitley was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting, the final defendant in the case has been scheduled for trial.
John Chatmon, who has been in Bexar County Jail since his 2020 arrest, is charged with murder alongside three others in connection with Whitley’s death.
Jury selection in Chatmon’s trial is set to begin on March 24, 2025, with testimony to begin the following day.
On July 19, 2017, more than 60 shots were fired into the East Side home where Whitley lived with his parents and brother. Whitley was struck in the head and died from his injuries.
Three years after the shooting, Chatmon, Terrell Chase, Quentin Phillips, and Todd Hill were arrested and charged with murder.
The COVID-19 pandemic delayed proceedings, and while the cases for the other defendants have been resolved, Chatmon’s trial was postponed further after he requested a new attorney earlier this year.
The other defendants faced varying outcomes.
Chase’s murder charge was dismissed, but he was sentenced to life in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Phillips received a 70-year sentence, while Hill took a plea deal and was sentenced to eight years on the lesser charge of felon in possession of a firearm.
Chatmon faces up to life in prison if found guilty.