Justin Matthews, charged with 11 counts including first-degree murder in the shooting death of his ex-girlfriend outside Home Depot on St. Thomas in 2021, has taken a plea deal that will see him spend the next 50 years in prison if the court approves.
Under the deal, Matthews will plead guilty to second-degree murder, domestic violence, be sentenced to 50 years behind bars and pay a $5,000 fine, with restitution to be determined at a change of plea hearing yet to be scheduled, according to court documents filed Tuesday.
Matthews had faced life in prison on the first-degree murder charge, and at least 97 additional years if sentenced to the minimum allowed on the 10 other charges, which included second-degree murder, five firearm violations, reckless endangerment, third-degree assault and first-degree assault, domestic violence. He was also facing a minimum of $126,500 in fines.
Jury selection had been set for Aug. 26 and the trial for Sept. 9 in Superior Court on St. Thomas, almost three years to the day that Keoner Baron, 20, was shot dead as she sat under a tree in the Home Depot parking lot, waiting for a ride home following her shift at the store on the afternoon of Sept. 4, 2021. Matthews was arrested the next day and his bail set at $200,000 cash, with no 10 percent security permitted. He has been in custody ever since.
According to an affidavit by V.I. Police Detective Shenika Simon that was filed as part of the court record, officers responding to a 911 call at 4:10 p.m. on Sept. 4, 2021, found Baron lying unresponsive in the Home Depot parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds. She was taken to Schneider Regional Medical Center, where she died of her injuries. Simon said officers collected 11 9mm shell casings at the scene.
The investigation revealed that Matthews, who was 23 at the time of the shooting, and Baron had been dating for about two years and she had broken off the relationship three days before she was killed, the affidavit stated.
The shooting, which was witnessed by several bystanders, shook the community and generated media coverage and comment on social media, prompting Matthews to file motions in July 2022 to have his trial moved out of the territory and an alleged confession suppressed. He later withdrew the latter motion, and Superior Court Judge Denise M. Francois denied the bid to move the trial.
Any concerns over potentially biased jurors could be addressed during voir dire, Francois said at the time, referring to the process by which potential jurors are vetted. “In addition, the Court is not persuaded that the potential jury pool for Matthews’ trial is so polluted, necessitating a change in venue,” she wrote.
Matthews was free on an unsecured $2,000 bond on charges of stalking and disturbance of the peace/threats in an unrelated case from June 20, 2020, when the Home Depot shooting occurred, according to court documents. Under a plea deal, he pleaded guilty in February 2022 to disturbance of the peace and was sentenced to 90 days in jail.
