A 25-year-old Central Florida man murdered a 28-year-old man, shooting the victim after luring him to the scene of the crime outside of a house party.
An Orange County jury found a 25-year-old Leesburg man, D’Wann Bentley, guilty of First Degree Murder with a Firearm after he shot and killed a man in Orange County in 2021.
On April 18, 2021, Bentley was at a house party on Kenlyn Court in Orange County. During the event, Bentley contacted the victim, 28-year-old Azeem Smith, via Snapchat, requesting the victim to pick him up.
Upon the victim’s arrival in his vehicle, Bentley fired six shots at the car, resulting in the death of Smith.
A surveillance camera caught the incident and showed Smith’s vehicle arriving and slowing to a stop and the defendant shooting into the car. At trial, witnesses who were in attendance at the house party testified that immediately after the shooting they saw a masked man, who they recognized as Bentley, jump over a fence into the backyard and walk inside the party.
Following Bentley’s apprehension and subsequent arrest, he failed to provide an explanation for the messages recovered from his phone that showed him luring the victim to the scene of the crime.
After a five-day trial, a jury found Bentley guilty as charged. The judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
