Man convicted on second degree murder charges of 17-year-old.
JACKSON, Tenn. — A sense of justice for the family of Shomari Peterson came just more than a year after he was fatally shot outside Parkway East Apartments. Thursday, a jury handed over their verdict and convicted Jakeil Waller of second degree murder and reckless endangerment. “I was happy because I knew what was going to happen. We prayed about it before we came so we knew what was going to go on,” Peterson’s cousin Kiara Robertson said. Waller was arrested just days after the July 27, 2014 gunfire that left Peterson, 17, dead and another man seriously injured. In Judge Don Allen’s courtroom Thursday afternoon, after a day and a half of testimony and a deliberation that lasted for just 40 minutes, the jury reached their decision. “On the first count of the indictment whereby Mr. Jakeil Waller is charged with the offense of second degree murder, how does the jury find him on that charge?,” Judge Allen said. The jury gave a guilty verdict. Waller could spend up to 27 years in prison. Although it does not bring her cousin back, Kiara Peterson said the family has some peace. “We feel good. All I have to say is Justice for Mari, and now he can rest easy. He can rest good,” Peterson said. Waller will be officially sentenced September 28. Waller’s brother, Jernigel Blackwell, is also set to go on trial for the same charges in the death of Shomari Peterson. Blackwell was 17 at the time, but is being tried as an adult.
