BY: LBS STAFF
Published 2 days ago
The 20-year-old received sentencing on Tuesday for allegedly orchestrating the savage 2021 murder, which surveillance cameras recorded, while text messages among co-conspirators and interrogation footage provided additional context.
A teen’s life was cut short after a case of jealous rage turned into murderous intent in Miramar, Florida in 2021. On Tuesday, Andre Clements (above center), 20, pleaded guilty and was sentenced for killing Dwight “DJ” Grant with a sword.
A teen at the time of the killing, Clements apologized in court and said he would do anything to bring Grant back, according to Law & Crime, but his words fell empty on the victim’s family.
Grant’s mother, Madelyn Emile, reportedly said in court, “I will never walk my son down the aisle. He’ll never come say anything to me ’cause he’s not here. He’s resting in power. All the good things my son did, the memories will always be with me.”
Clements was sentenced to 40 years in prison for murder, tampering with evidence, and conspiracy to commit murder.
His co-conspirators Christie Parisien (above left) and Jaslyn Smith (above right), who were 17 and 16 at the time of the murder, respectively, were each previously sentenced to 25 years after pleading guilty to second-degree murder, tampering with evidence, and conspiracy to commit murder.
Conspiring to Kill
According to the arrest report seen by Fox affiliate WSVN at the time of the killing, surveillance footage at the apartment building where Grant, 18, lived captured all three suspects dressed in black and entering the building on October 17, 2021.
Ahead of that fateful night, details in the arrest report included text exchanges between the suspects, including Clements messaging Parisienne, “Murder will definitely happen soon.”
“I would help you, but you becoming a murderer right now isn’t what is needed,” Parisienne purportedly replied, to which the response came, “It’s happening by hoco [homecoming].”
“Oh — see, that I can help with,” Parisienne texted, per the report, with Clements shooting back, “This Sunday or next? You choose.”
“This Sunday I have to go to my aunt’s birthday party — unless you’re impatient and I give my mother an excuse to not go,” Parisienne responded, per the arrest documents
The duo recruited Smith, a mutual Miramar High School classmate who lived nearby, to help, with the arrest report saying they plotted their fellow student’s murder because he’d purportedly slept with Clement’s ex-girlfriend.
According to NBC affiliate WTVJ, Clement was involved romantically with one of his co-suspects, and told her he was “infuriated” because he had an “emotional connection” to the girl Grant had purportedly slept with.
The third teen recruited into the murder plot was allegedly told that she was needed to help fight someone who had “raped” a girl, per the arrest affidavits. There was no evidence of this, with the ex-girlfriend at the time telling authorities her relationship with Grant was consensual.
Dwight Grant’s Death
After their arrival just before 7 p.m., per the arrest affidavit, Parisienne called Grant to lure him into the stairwell, where he was allegedly ambushed and beaten for 31 minutes, with a surveillance photo showing Parisienne acting as a lookout during the attack.
According to the arrest report, Clements told Grant, “You know I have to kill you now,” and then proceeded to stab him in the neck with a knife he’d brought.
Grant purportedly told his attackers to “end it,” per the report, at which point Clements “stabbed the victim in the chest” with a sword. Police alleged that the victim bled out and then the trio carried him to a railing and dumped his body over it and into some bushes. All of this was captured on surveillance cameras, according to police.
The body was found two days later by police, with WTVJ reporting that police also found a knife with a broken blade nearby the body, which was badly beaten with stab wounds.
The trio purportedly prepared by bringing cleaning supplies, per police, which they used then to remove blood from the scene of Grant’s murder. They also allegedly attempted to burn their clothes in a bonfire, until they were stopped by a security guard. Ultimately they dumped everything into a lake behind the complex.
After they were picked up by police, both teen girls told police they didn’t expect that anyone would actually die in the attack. “I didn’t think he meant, like, actual murder,” Parisien said on October 23, 2021, as captured on police interrogation footage (which is not embeddable, but you can see at Law & Crime here).
“I thought he meant fighting him, beating him up or something,” she continued. “Classic little high school boy-boy, ‘I mess with your girl, you mess with my girl’ type fight thing.”
“Andre told me that somebody had pissed him off, or somebody that was messing with somebody else’s girl or something — it had to do with some type of chick — and that he was upset and that he needed some backup for a fight,” said Smith, with her mother present, on October 19. “He told me it was just a fight.”
via: TooFab
