BEAUMONT, Texas — A Beaumont man sentenced to 28 years for shooting a man in the leg with a rifle after losing a dice game behind a Beaumont Waffle House has lost an appeal of his conviction.
A Jefferson County jury found Javante Stoker guilty in 2021 of aggravated robbery in the shooting that happened in 2019 after he lost a dice game according to file stories. He was sentenced to 28 years in prison by Judge John Stevens at the time.
He appealed to Texas' Ninth District Court of Appeals claiming that his conviction should be overturned because of insufficient evidence and the court allowing body camera video of his statements to officers to be used at trial.
The appeals court disagreed and ordered his conviction be upheld.
The court cited prior cases and also said that evidence presented at trial, that Stoker's attorney did not object to, corroborated statements he made in the body camera video.
Stoker will have to serve half of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.
At about 3 a.m. on an August night in 2019 Stoker began shooting in the parking lot of the Waffle House on College street at after he lost $100 in a dice game police said at the time.
After losing the game Stoker went to his car and came back with a rifle and told everyone to give them their money witnesses told police at the time.
The man who was shot pushed the gun away and tried to run but but was shot in the leg, shattering his shin bone according to police.
The wounded man crawled into the Waffle House for safety and afterwards, his friends drove him to the hospital.
Stoker was found and arrested less than a week after the shooting by members of the U.S. Marshal's according to a Beaumont Police Department news release.
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
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