FAYETTEVILLE, WV (WOAY) – A jury has found a Mount Hope man guilty of first-degree murder and use of a firearm to commit a felony.
Kayce R. Simms, a 21-year-old man, was charged back in November of 2022. Deputies responded to a house on 98 Teng Lane in Glen Jean, where they found Ashtin Owens, a 37-year-old man, inside with two gunshot wounds.
Owens was flown to a Charleston-area trauma center but died from his wounds.
The investigation discovered that Owens had been in an argument with Simms’s grandmother. Simms shot Owens because he believed Owens disrespected his grandmother.
There were three witnesses in the home, and two people saw the murder.
Simms now faces up to life in prison. The jury granted Simms mercy, making him eligible for parole after 15 years.
The case was prosecuted by Prosecuting Attorney Anthony Ciliberti, Jr and Assistant
Prosecuting Attorney, R. Wes Toney.
