Nearly three years after beloved Houston Pastor Dr. Ronald K. Mouton Sr. was murdered in an apparent road rage incident, his killer has been convicted. On Thursday (May 1), a jury found Deshawn Longmire guilty after several days of emotional testimony.
Mouton, who had been pastor of East Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Houston for decades, was shot and killed in June 2022 while driving along the Gulf Freeway.
Roughly one month later, Longmire was arrested after police found that Longmire’s Uber record placed him in the area of the murder at the time of the shooting. Longmire’s vehicle matched the vehicle caught on surveillance footage leaving the scene.
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One witness recounted seeing Mouton and Longmire arguing prior to the shooting, and records show that another witness described seeing Longmire stretching his arm out of the window of his car with a pistol and shooting Mouton.
Mouton was 58 years old. He 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.
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Despite years of delay, Mouton’s family has expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the trial.
