DeShawn Longmire has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for the murder of beloved Houston Pastor Dr. Ronald K. Mouton Sr.
Last week, Longmire, 26, was convicted of shooting Mouton in a road rage incident that took place in June 2022. Longmire had apparently gotten into a dispute with Mouton while driving along the Gulf Freeway. Witnesses reported seeing Longmire pull up alongside Mouton to shoot him.
Longmire was arrested roughly one month after the incident when it was discovered that surveillance footage and his Uber driving record placed him at the scene.
Mouton was 58 years old. He pastored East Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Houston for three decades and is survived by his wife of nearly 40 years, four children, and 10 grandchildren.
The trial began late last month after having been delayed several times for a combination of reasons—first because of a backlog of cases resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Helene. Most recently, the trial was pushed back because Longmire’s defense attorney was tied up with another case.
During his testimony, Longmire said, “I want you all to know that I love y’all, each and every single one of y’all, and I never meant to hurt anybody.”
“I never meant for any of this to happen and if I could change it, I would,” Longmire said.
Following Longmire’s sentencing, Mouton’s twin brother, Rev. Roland Mouton Jr. expressed that he felt “we could have gotten more years than what we did.”
“Although none of us really wanted to see [Longmire] get life,” Roland went on to say, “but we thought we could have at least gotten a number of years that at least matched the number of years my brother was when he was killed.”
Mouton’s son, Ronald Mouton Jr., said he felt “relief” that the trial and sentencing are over. He also said that he is “sad” for Longmire’s family, because they are “losing him to the system.”
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“I didn’t want the young man to spend the rest of his life in jail at all,” he added, “but I did expect him to spend enough time where he could [be] the age of my father. [In] 32 years, [Longmire] would have been 58.”
