Verbie Darnell Watkins, Jr. was sentenced to 25 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections last week for the murder of Donna Cooper five years ago. Watkins changed his plea from not guilty to guilty of 2nd Degree Murder Friday in court. The court explained the effect of a guilty plea to him, and he voluntarily and willfully waived his rights, entering a guilty plea.
In October of 2015, Donna Cooper had been living with Verbie Darnell Watkins, Jr. After receiving a welfare call, the Clarke County Sheriff’s Department went to the residence to search for Ms. Cooper. Instead, Mr. Watkins informed them that he had killed Donna Cooper and then burned her remains in a trash pile in the front yard. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation collected bone fragments from the ashes and analyzed them to confirm that they were the remains of Ms. Cooper.
In February of 2017, a grand jury indicted Watkins of the murder of Donna Cooper by hitting her with his fist, a piece of wood, and a lamp. The case was finally taken to court on September 13, 2019.
Watkins has now been sentenced to serve 25 and five years supervised probation. The time he has already served will be included in his 25 years with MDOC. Once he is honorably discharged after serving 20 more years with MDOC, he will be under the supervision of a field officer to complete the probation portion of his sentence.
After years of hard work, the Donna Cooper case is closed, and justice has finally been granted.
