Henderson, NC – District Attorney Michael Waters, together with Assistant District Attorneys Melissa Pelfrey and Onica Fuller worked through a criminal calendar consisting of cases brought by both the Henderson Police Department and the Vance County Sheriffs Office during a week-long session of Vance County Superior Court which began May 8, 2017, where Superior Court Judge Michael O’Foghludha presided.

Travis Kingsberry received an active prison sentence of Life without Parole in the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, Division of Adult Correction (DAC) at the end of a week-long trial where jurors found Kingsberry guilty of First Degree Murder, First Degree Burglary and Assault with a Deadly Weapon Inflicting Serious Injury. The case against Kingsberry stemmed from the 2009 murder of Montrell Alston on Adams Street in Henderson, NC, and was investigated by detectives and patrol officers of the Henderson Police Department under the direction of Chief Marcus Barrow.

Jemel Bullock, a co-defendant of Mr. Kingsberry, received an active prison sentence of 96 to 125 months in the DAC as a result of his plea of guilty to Robbery with a Dangerous Weapon.

Darius Benson, also a co-defendant of Bullock and Kingsberry, was sentenced, pursuant to his plea of guilty, to Voluntary Manslaughter and received an active prison sentence of 71 to 95 months in the DAC. Benson received a mitigated sentence as a result of agreement to testify on behalf of the State against others involved in the 2009 murder of Montrell Alston.

The fourth and final co-defendant of Bullock, Benson and Kingsberry, Alan Gibson, was found guilty of First Degree Murder, First Degree Burglary and Assault with a Deadly Weapon Inflicting Serious Injury by a jury at the end of a trial that began on March 21, 2017. Gibson also received an active prison sentence of Life without Parole in the DAC.

Michael Waters