10-05-2025
'You killed him in cold blood': Man pleads guilty in Gastonia teen's death
A man pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of a Gastonia teenager.
Ja'Kelan Duval, 22, was convicted in the death of 19-year-old Deionte Sparkman, who was gunned down on a Gastonia street on the afternoon of May 16, 2022. Superior Court Judge David Phillips sentenced Duval to 12 to 15 years in prison.
Police found Sparkman lying in the road on Westwood Circle, dead from a gunshot wound to the head, Assistant District Attorney Megan Rhoden said.
Officers eventually learned a friend of Sparkman's, another 19-year-old man, had been shot, but survived. He told police that the shooter shot them from a silver Porsche. Police found the Porsche, and eventually went to a home in South Carolina, where they found then-20-year-old Mary Bentley. Bentley admitted to police that she and Duval had been in the Porsche that day, and on that day, Duval went to Westwood Circle. Bentley thought that they were going there for a drug deal, Rhoden said, but Duval told Bentley to drive and got in the back seat.
Bentley told police that Sparkman and his friend began walking down the street, and Duval began shooting out of the rear window.
Bentley agreed to testify against Duval, but Sparkman's friend refused to cooperate with prosecutors, Rhoden said. Rhoden added that she thinks the shooting was gang related, and that Sparkman may not have been the target.
Steven Peoples, Sparkman's father, told Judge Phillips that he has been unable to work for three years as he grieved his son's death.
"It extremely hurt not just me, but my entire family," he said. "When I go to sleep at night, I think about it. When I wake up, I think about it."
He said that he had to go to CaroMont Regional Medical Center and identify his son as he lay dead on a gurney.
"It's just so unreal. It's so unreal," he said.
He said that his family has moved because of the shooting.
"My son, he didn't have anything to do with this situation, not nothing," he said.
Cynthia Stitt, who mentored Sparkman since he was in the sixth grade, said that Sparkman planned to go to college.
"To take his life wasn't fair," she said.
Sparkman's mother, Nikki Peoples, said that she's forgiven Duval for his actions.
"We lost two lives. We lost my son's life, and Duval's parents lost his," she said. "I have to forgive him for his actions to have peace within myself."
But, she added, "You killed him in cold blood at 12:30 in the afternoon. I'm not happy with it, but I have to accept it, because nothing is going to bring my son back.
"I wish you the best, because if I hold a grudge against you, I would kill my own self, and my son wouldn't want that."
Duval appeared impassive as Peoples spoke.
District Attorney Travis Page said in a statement that he takes no satisfaction from Duval's plea.
"In fact, it is a disgusting and reprehensible example of a long-standing problem becoming more and more prevalent: a community's complicity with violence and murder," he said.
In his statement, he said that Sparkman's friend, who was also shot, dodged subpoenas and refused to meet with law enforcement and prosecutors.
"His friends and family helped as he abandoned his friend," he said.
In an interview, Page said that the lack of cooperation his office encountered is a longstanding problem in Gaston County and elsewhere.
"People have to be willing to come to court and testify and say what they saw," Page said. "And believe in a justice system that's going to hold folks accountable … That's what we're striving for, is a justice system that will actually deliver justice for victims of crime, and the only way we can do that is for people to be willing and to have the courage to testify."
Had that young man cooperated, Page's office could have tried to send Duval to prison for life, he said.
Sparkman's death led to the creation of 101 Black Men, a coalition formed in the Highland community of Gastonia to offer mentorship, education and other opportunities for African Americans in the community.
This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Man pleads guilty in Gastonia teen's death
