Houston, TX: A jury convicted a 32-year-old Houston man of a 2020 murder and sentenced him to 40 years in prison.

On Friday, Robert E. Chenier, a known member of the 52 Hoover Crips, received his punishment.

“When a gang member shoots up a house, brutally murders a man and is so confident he will get away with murder that he brags about it, we see exactly how pervasive gun violence is in our community,” Kim Ogg, the district attorney for Harris County, said. “We mourn for the victim’s family and thank the jury for ending this gang member’s reign of terror.”

Chenier got into a fight with someone on November 23, 2020, and then opened fire on a house on Cartersville Street.

The incident at the residence on Cartersville had nothing to do with 32-year-old Shaun Lewis.

Chenier and Lewis had grown up in the same neighbourhood and knew one another. Chenier observed Lewis and another man on a country street after shooting up the house.

Chenier went up to them and grabbed a revolver from Lewis’s companion.

Lewis held up his palms, offering Chenier anything he want as that man fled. Chenier shot Lewis, not robbed him.

Lewis was hurt and attempted to flee, but he passed out in a neighbouring field.

As Lewis pleaded for his life, Chenier approached him and shot him in the head. Then Chenier snapped a picture of Lewis’s body.

“This was a senseless and callous murder, and the defendant showed that he has no regard for human life,” stated Rebecca Marshall, the assistant district attorney. “In fact, after the murder, he took a photo of his victim and showed it around the neighbourhood like a trophy.”

Chenier boasted about what he had done to multiple persons after the incident. After determining what had happened, investigators from the Houston Police Department detained him and filed murder charges against him.

The trial for Chenier’s murder lasted four days.