CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – After five days of testimony and several hours of deliberation, a Montgomery County jury convicted two men of first-degree murder and found a third guilty of reckless homicide in the 2023 shooting death of Jarlen Corbin outside of Dodge’s on Fort Campbell Boulevard.

Otis Lee Barnes, now 24, and Maleike Tyree Hamlin, now 31, were found guilty as charged of first-degree murder. Their bonds were revoked and both were sentenced to life in prison.

Santanna Antonio Compton McFarlan, now 23, was found guilty of the lesser-included charge of reckless homicide. McFarlan’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 6 at the Montgomery County Courts Center.

Night of the shooting

Corbin, 29, was found outside of Dodge’s gas station with multiple gunshot wounds in the early morning hours of Jan. 28, 2023. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital. Barnes and Hamlin also arrived at Tennova Healthcare Clarksville with gunshot wounds.

Military veteran Christopher Cosby previously testified he was walking out of Dodge’s when gunfire erupted. He drew his own firearm and returned fire, believing Corbin’s life was in danger. Cosby said he only saw food in Corbin’s hands moments before the shooting.

Officers testified Corbin was found holding a gun with his finger “still on the trigger.” The weapon had malfunctioned. Lead investigator Sgt. Benjamin Goble previously testified that surveillance video showed Barnes, Hamlin and McFarlan opening fire on Corbin.

Barnes testified in his own defense, telling jurors he was afraid for his life when he fired. When asked about the firearm he used, which was never recovered, Barnes said it was “gone with the wind.”

State prosecution: ‘They confronted him, they surrounded him and they killed him’

Chief Deputy District Attorney General Marianne Bell told jurors the evidence showed the defendants acted as aggressors. “They confronted him, they surrounded him and they killed him,” she said.

Bell pointed to surveillance video showing Corbin walking into the store and later exiting with a box of food. “You never see Mr. Corbin flash a gun anywhere in that video,” she said. “After the verbal confrontation, Mr. Corbin ends things and he walks into the store. … He’s getting his chicken.”

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She argued Corbin had his back turned as he walked back toward his vehicle. “If Mr. Corbin is such a threat and they’re so scared of him, why are they following him?” Bell said. “That doesn’t make any sense if they were actually scared of Mr. Corbin.”

Bell said Barnes retrieved a firearm from a Chrysler 300 shortly after Corbin arrived and while walking back to his car, the three men “pin him down so he was trapped … they aim their weapons at him and they fire.”

“The defendants were not standing their ground,” she said. “They were gaining ground.”

Bell told jurors the men disposed of their firearms after the shooting. “All three of them got rid of their weapons,” she said.

“Everyone deserves justice,” she said. “Mr. Corbin deserves justice, as does his family.”

Defense attorney: They acted in self-defense

Defense attorney Jake Fendley, representing Barnes, argued the state failed to prove premeditation and that the men reacted to a threat. “If somebody’s flashing a gun, that is … cause for alarm,” he said.

Fendley said Barnes retrieved his gun after seeing Corbin rack a firearm in his vehicle. “Nothing about this was calculated,” he said. “They were in a public place.”

He argued Corbin remained a threat, even after falling to the ground. “That threat had not ended,” Fendley said. “He could still have shot for all they knew. How were they supposed to know his gun was jammed?”

“Mr. Corbin is a victim of his own choices,” he said. “Mr. Corbin could’ve gotten in his car and left … but he made a choice … They had no choice but to defend themselves.”

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Attorney Timothy Warren, representing Hamlin, emphasized the defendant’s presumption of innocence and Tennessee’s stand-your-ground law.

“Not only does the state have to prove the elements of first-degree, but they also have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that these defendants did not act in self-defense,” he said.

“There is no duty to retreat,” Warren said. “You have a right to stand your ground.”

Attorney Stephanie Mize, representing McFarlan, argued there were four shooters on the lot that morning, including Cosby.

“If there are four shooters and we don’t know who fired the fatal shot, you cannot find that one of these three did it in concert with the other two,” she said.

Mize said the defendants’ actions were “legally justified” and that the evidence for murder was “non-existent.”

Verdict and sentencing

Jurors began deliberations Tuesday afternoon before returning the verdicts only a few hours later.

First-degree murder in Tennessee carries a mandatory life sentence. Reckless homicide is a Class D felony punishable by two to 12 years in prison.

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