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U.S. Marine shot, killed while asleep, gets justice
A Colorado County jury deliberated two hours Thursday, Oct. 3, before finding a 28-year-old man guilty of capital murder after he was charged in the shooting death of a man.
Dante Larenz Stevens, of Garwood, was sentenced to life without parole during a trial presided by second 25th state District Court Judge Jessica Richard Crawford. The shooting took place on Sept. 10, 2021, where Stevens broke into the Eagle Lake home of U.S. Marine Jonathon Cain Segura, 22, shooting Segura four times.
Tears of joy broke out inside the courtroom with an audible sigh of relief heard, as Segura’s family finally received the justice they wanted to hear after more than 1,000 days of anxiously waiting.
Stevens on the other hand had no visible reaction to the sentencing.
The four-day trial included testimony from the defendant in his own defense, as well as several key witnesses.
San Jacinto Assistant District Attorney Rob Freyer, who assisted Colorado County District Attorney Jay Johannes on the case, commended the jury for their hard work in what he says was a “very highly charged and emotional case.” “This jury’s rather quick verdict in after four days of hard-fought testimony is a testament to a message that has been sent that juries in this county do not tolerate this,” said Freyer. “If anybody contemplates doing anything as violent, callous, and stupid as this in this great place, there will be hell to pay for it. They will be held accountable.”
Following the jury’s decision, Crawford laid down a sentiment of her own, not holding back her thoughts on Stevens’ actions.
“Your crime was heinous, your actions were monstrous,” said Crawford. “For taking the life of Jonathon Segura, you are sentenced to life and will spend the rest of your life in prison.” Segura had recently returned from the marines that summer according to family members, coming back home to help take care of his mother, Shelley Casanova, and his multiple siblings. He was sleeping on the couch in the living room, when Stevens, according to prosecutors, broke into the home and fired four shots.
According to key witness testimony provided by investigators, the shooting was believed to be in retaliation for the death of Steven’s cousin Keaton Hancock, a Columbus resident, after Hancock was shot and killed less than two hours before Segura in the early hours of Sept. 10.
Hancock’s father, Walter Hancock, recalled the night he and his son spent their last hours together. Walter had woken up to the sound of gunfire only two hours after going to bed following the conclusion of a Dallas Cowboy’s game the pair were watching together on his front porch. That is where Hancock says he found his son, still sitting, shot and unresponsive.
“By 11:30 p.m. I went to bed,” said Walter Hancock. “By 1:30 a.m. or around that time, I woke up to a whole lot of gunfire. I looked around the house and saw my son was still on the porch, and he had been shot.”
Walter says that is when he notified police and family members who rushed over to his aid, including Stevens, who according to Walter, saw his cousin’s body lay lifeless on the porch. Stevens left the house, with Walter stating he did not know where Stevens went afterwards.
Stevens’ mother Denise Venghaus, who sat in court alone for the majority of the trial, says her son told her he went back to Garwood following his cousin’s murder. With Stevens’ lengthy rap sheet as a teen, Venghaus hoped that he was telling her the truth, voicing how she tried her best to keep Stevens away from the wrong crowd as a youth.
“Most of the stuff on his record was done as a teenager, hanging with the wrong crowd,” said Venghaus. “I tried to do right by him, but at the end of the day he has a mind of his own and I cannot control his actions.”
Prosecutors say the string of shootings were connected to gang violence between the two groups, but the incident that sparked the wave of back-and-forth attacks dates back to Sept. 8 and Sept. 9 where prosecutors say Stevens showed up at the residence of Segura’s relatives, the Flores’ and Casanova’s, shooting up the two homes in broad daylight.
The back and forth resulted in the deaths of Keaton Hancock and Segura, with no initial hard evidence pinning Stevens to the killing of Segura in the first three days of the trial.
It was not until the final day of the trial, when Colorado County Investigator Beth Mayfield, who pulled Stevens’ Facebook, phone and snapchat records, was cross examined by prosecutors and presented an admission of guilt to the jury in the form of Stevens’ own words.
“A search warrant was issued for Dante’s Facebook page, phone and snapchat records,” said Mayfield. “The defendant previously stated during his testimony that he, and only he, uses his cellular device. The phone number confirmed to be Dante’s in a conversation with Ashley Dallas stated ‘f*** it, I got their brother. No bs, they killed my innocent cousin, so I killed their innocent brother.”
Stevens also sent other messages and made other remarks potentially tying him to the shooting of Segura, including ‘everybody about to die on my mama’ and ‘all of them have to die and meet God,’ shortly after the death of Keaton Hancock.
Cell phone tower evidence submitted by the prosecution showed Stevens’ location at the time of the murder in Eagle Lake, around the location of the shooting. According to expert witnesses from both the defense and prosecutors, these pings may be off by several meters or hundreds of meters, depending on the tower they connect to.
The defense’s argument however following the showing of Stevens’ phone records was that his exact location did not ping him at the house of Segura or nearby but rather a few hundred meters off.
Despite this attempt, the jury found the evidence was clear enough to come to a unanimous decision, locking up Stevens for the rest of his life.
Segura’s family and relatives were relieved that the timely saga came to a conclusion, and that Jonathon Segura could finally rest. They fondly remember the light he brought to their lives and the lives of everyone around him.
“He was such a sweet, sweet boy who always thought about others before thinking about himself,” said Segura’s grandmother, Silvia Bailey. “He thought about everybody’s feelings. He was never afraid to be himself and show unconditional love. I remember he had a stuffed animal as a child that he asked to take with him to the marines before he left. He would always ask me, grandma how are you doing? How was your day?”
Casanova says despite being “overwhelmingly happy” with the verdict, the decision will never bring her son back, and she will never be okay.
“My son has justice now and that is all I wanted,” said Casanova. “Understand that I will never be okay. But this helps ease the pain, that the person who took my sons life, will never see the light of day again.”
Despite her sentiments, she says her son would be happy he put away “someone terrible,” but would most likely pity Steven’s mother for never being able to see her son again. Like father, like son, as Segura’s dad, Gary Segura, echoed those same feelings.
“I am satisfied with the verdict but at the same time, to tell you the truth, I put myself in his (Stevens) mother’s shoes,” said Gary Segura. “I do not know why I did that but I was thinking now his mother is not going to have him around. If it was my son, I would not defend him but I would still be there to support him. It was all for revenge. He could have stopped right there after his cousin got killed, sometimes we have to think about when it is time to let it go.”
