JONESBORO, Ark. – Authorities told NEA Report in 2016 that Chauncey “Jigga” Thomas, 21, had the habit of showing up in the wrong place at the wrong time. But after receiving a 12-year prison sentence on Friday, he may not be in the news for some time.
Thomas was sentenced to 12 years on Friday for violating his suspended sentence received in connection with the May, 2017 shooting at The Basement in Downtown Jonesboro. This was according to Second Judicial District Prosecutor Scott Ellington. Another nine years was suspended for Thomas at the end of this sentence.
The violation came after drug task force members performed a probation search in Dec. 2018 at his home at the 3500-block of Galaxy Street. He was found in possession of a handgun. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in February and is scheduled to go to trial in August for this charge.
“He plead to 12 years consecutive to whatever he gets on Fed time,” Ellington said. “We shouldn’t see him for a while.”
Before prosecutors had a chance to have his suspended sentence revoked, he was injured two weeks later in a fatal shooting at his home on Galaxy. Several suspects who bought pot earlier in the day returned with nefarious intentions, which cost one person his life. Two men still face trial for this later this year.
Thomas entered the news most notably as one of two suspects in The Basement shooting in 2017. Only one witness had identified him as a shooter while others, including video, implicated Kalius Lane. Lane is serving a 30-year sentence for that. Thomas, who had been charged with murder, later had the charge amended to hindering apprehension. His guilty plea to that resulted in the suspended sentence for five years.
It was a trap laid by prosecutors who did not believe five years would pass before Thomas was back in trouble. They were correct.
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