On Thursday, January 6, Ja’Vonne Dupree, 24, was handed four consecutive sentences of life in prison without parole, among other sentences, in Division 4 of St. Louis County Circuit Court.
The court sentenced Dupree to life without eligibility for parole for each of four Murder 1st Degree charges, life for each of four Robbery 1st Degree charges, and 30 years for each of eight Armed Criminal Action charges, with all sentences to be served consecutively. These were the sentences recommended by the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
On October 8, a St. Louis County jury convicted Dupree of these charges after four days of evidence and closing arguments and deliberating almost to midnight. The jury decided that the defendant shot and killed each of the victims, robbed the victims of electronics and clothing, picked up multiple shell casings, and fled the murder scene in one of the victims’ car with the stolen items. The youngest victim was 10 years old.
The mother of one of the victims spoke at the sentencing hearing today. She thanked the court for devoting so much time to the case, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for “never giving up,” and the jury for bringing justice. She said her son “had a face that could light up a room,” and told Dupree “you stole that.” Through tears, she said that though she may not have her son, “now I may have some closure.”
Dupree addressed the court to maintain his innocence.
At trial, family members of the victims testified that Dupree was a homeless youth who had been taken in by the matriarch of the family, who also was a hip-hop producer who worked with Dupree as a rapper. Dupree committed the murders and other crimes after being put out of the family home by one of the victims.
Dupree committed these crimes on August 24, 2017 in Glasgow Village. The St. Louis County Police Department investigated the incident.
“The conduct in this case speaks for itself – this was the heinous execution of a family,” said St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell. “Their lives were taken in their beds while they slept, the one place where they should have been safe, and all for greed. There is nothing here but stolen futures, but at least these maximum sentences bring closure.”
