HOUSTON — A Houston man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing a recent college graduate with a promising future.
A jury convicted Jarell Barrows, 22, of capital murder and he received an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole for the shooting death of Emmanuel Browne.
The victim had graduated from Lone Star College and started his own cell phone repair business when he was gunned down on April 29, 2021.
Browne was killed during a robbery while repairing a phone that belonged to Barrows.
“This is a heartbreaking case because the victim was a young man who had so much potential and so much of his life still ahead of him,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. “No one should have to fear being robbed and killed as they try to build a business and live a productive life.”
Browne taught himself how to repair phones as a teenager after his broke. He used his experience to start a small phone repair business after graduating. Prosecutors said Browne tried to stay safe by repairing phones in his car instead of going into the homes of strangers.
On the day of the murder, Barrows and James Duplechain contacted Browne to come to an apartment complex on Yellowstone near Highway 288 to fix a phone. Surveillance video showed the victim was in the driver’s seat with his window down when Barrows pointed a gun at his head and opened the car door.
When Browne tried to shut the door, Barrows shot him, reached into the car to grab a phone and then shot Browne again before running away.
“You can see in the video that the victim holds up his hands to show that he is empty-handed before he was shot the first time. The second shot was a kill shot,” Assistant District Attorney Casey Smith said.
Browne tried to drive away but he crashed into a nearby apartment building and died.
“It’s really sad because he was completely innocent, had just graduated college and was planning on getting more education," Smith said. "His family came to court every day of trial to see that justice was done.”
Surveillance video led to Barrows and Duplechain.
Duplechain pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
