Houston Man Sentenced to Life Without Parole for Murder of Recent College Graduate During Robbery

A Houston man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of robbing and killing a recent graduate of Lone Star College, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced. The victim, 22-year-old Emmanuel Browne, had recently started his own business repairing cellphones when he was fatally shot during a robbery in 2021.

“This is a heartbreaking case because the victim was a young man who had so much potential and so much of his life still ahead of him,” Ogg said in a statement. “No one should have to fear being robbed and killed as they try to build a business and live a productive life.”

Jarell Carelone Barrows, 22, was convicted of capital murder on Thursday for shooting Browne during a robbery that occurred around 1:10 p.m. on April 29, 2021, in Houston’s South Side neighborhood. Browne, who was born to Liberian parents and brought to the United States at the age of 10, had taught himself how to repair cellphones as a teenager after breaking his own. He eventually turned his skills into a business, offering mobile repairs to customers while working from the safety of his car.

On the day of the murder, Barrows and an accomplice, James Duplechain, contacted Browne under the pretense of needing a phone repaired. Browne met the men at an apartment complex, where surveillance footage captured the events that led to his death. Browne was seated in the driver’s seat of his car with the window down, attempting to fix one of the men’s phones, when Barrows pulled a gun and held it to Browne’s head.

Barrows then opened the driver’s-side door, keeping the gun pointed at Browne, and attempted to open a backseat door where Browne stored his repair supplies. When he found the door locked, Browne tried to close his own door, at which point Barrows shot him for the first time. After reaching into the car to steal a cellphone from the driver’s-side footwell, Barrows shot Browne a second time before fleeing the scene.

Despite being wounded, Browne attempted to drive away but crashed into a nearby apartment building in the 3300 block of Yellowstone. He died at the scene from his injuries.

Houston Police Department investigators released images of the suspects from the surveillance video, leading to the arrests of Barrows and Duplechain. Duplechain pleaded guilty to his role in the crime last year and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Barrows, identified as the triggerman, was found guilty of capital murder after a seven-day trial and received an automatic sentence of life without parole.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Casey Smith, chief of the Homicide Division of the DA’s Office, and Katlin Robinson, chief in the trial bureau. Smith noted the tragic circumstances of the case, saying, “You can see in the video that the victim holds up his hands to show that he is empty-handed before he was shot the first time — the second shot was a kill shot. It’s really sad because he was completely innocent, had just graduated college, and was planning on getting more education. His family came to court every day of trial to see that justice was done.”

Barrows will spend the rest of his life in prison, with no chance of parole.