Justin Coggins to serve 5 years for manslaughter in Lowndes Co.
LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – A Lowndes County man found guilty of manslaughter is ordered to serve five years in prison.
Circuit Court Judge Lee “Jay” Howard handed down the ruling on September 5 to Justin Coggins.
Coggins shot and killed 33-year-old Dustin Hoffpauir in May 2022.
Hours before the shooting, Coggins was graduating from high school.
Hoffpauir was the fiancée of Coggins’s mother.
District Attorney Scott Colom shared what he told the victim’s family after the sentencing.
“What I told them is, they got justice from the jury with the guilty verdict. The judge determines the sentence, and they have to live with that. The great thing about our system is we settle things in a courtroom, and had the defendant chosen to settle his grievance in a courtroom, we wouldn’t even be here,” said District Attorney Scott Colom.
State law requires someone to be in the county jail for a year or in prison for two years, but not more than 20 years for a manslaughter conviction.
