A Mecklenburg County judge on Tuesday sentenced Emmanuel Collins to life in prison without the possibility of parole, after a jury found him guilty in the 2020 east Charlotte shooting that killed 52-year-old Jessie Hurley. The gunfire erupted near East W.T. Harris Boulevard and Lawyers Road, and Hurley was pronounced dead at the scene.
Verdict and sentence
A jury convicted Collins of the fatal shooting, and the judge followed with a life-without-parole sentence, according to WCCB Charlotte. The station reports the decision closes a case prosecutors have pursued since the July 2020 killing.
How the shooting unfolded
The shooting took place in July 2020 near a strip of businesses off East W.T. Harris Boulevard, where an argument escalated into gunfire and left Hurley fatally wounded, according to WBTV. Authorities later identified and arrested Emmanuel Desmond Collins and charged him with first-degree murder, the station reported.
Cases from 2020 closing now
The Collins sentence is one of several recent rulings wrapping up violent-crime cases that trace back to 2020, as prosecutors have moved older homicide files to trial this spring, The Charlotte Observer reported. Those outcomes have brought long-awaited closure for families in Mecklenburg County.
