Three men found guilty of double homicide that left a disabled child trapped in home for days

Syracuse, N.Y. ― Dozens of people packed into a courtroom Wednesday afternoon to learn the fate of three men accused of executing a man and woman in their Syracuse apartment in 2022.

After a nearly three-week-long trial, a jury took just one day to come to a verdict.

The men — LaShawn Dixon, 47, Donnell Thornton, 30, and Jamel Weston, 49 ― sat stoically as a dozen court officers and custody deputies stood between them and the gallery.

Each man was found guilty on all six counts they faced in connection with the deaths of Alexis Sellin, 32, and her boyfriend, Jamie Crawford, 46, including first-degree murder.

Now, they face the potential of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

As the verdict was read, the victims’ loved ones clutched each other and sighed in relief. Some of the defendant’s loved ones left the courtroom.

The men were found guilty of shooting the couple multiple times in the early hours of Aug. 21, 2022 inside an apartment at 3101 Burnet Ave. as the woman’s son lay in a nearby room.

The disabled boy, 6-year-old Markese Smalls Jr., was found alive, but badly dehydrated. He had been left alone, unable to get out of his bed for three days.

Smalls, the only possible witness to the crime, couldn’t say what happened. He is blind, paraplegic and non-verbal.

Prosecutors during the trial said the group did a test run earlier in the night before returning around 1:40 a.m., circling the area and executing the couple.

The case was built on circumstantial evidence.

Prosecutor Alphonse Williams used cellphone data, video evidence and witness testimony to weave together a story illustrating his theory of the murder.

Three defense attorneys warned jurors not to let Williams fill in gaps in the evidence with assumptions. They told the jury that police made assumptions as the basis for the timeline of their investigation and had no forensic evidence.

Ultimately, the jury agreed with Williams that there were too many coincidences pointing to the men’s guilt without another innocent explanation.

They were each found guilty of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and three counts of criminal possession of a weapon. They were charged with first-degree murder for killing multiple people.

They are scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 12. The victims’ families are expected to address the convicted killers at the sentencing.

As the three men left the courtroom, their remaining loved ones yelled that they loved them. The victims’ families responded by shouting their love for “Jami” and “Lexi,” the couple who was murdered.

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Jami Crawford’s obituary

Alexis “Lexi” Sellin’s obituary

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