KENANSVILLE — A Teachey teenager and self-professed gang member was sentenced to life in prison Monday for the shooting death of a cab driver, the second of four defendants relegated to spend the rest of his life behind bars in the murder.

Anthony Darnell Kenan Jr., 19, pleaded guilty in Duplin County Superior Court to first-degree murder in the death of Jessie Faison Jr., 63, found shot to death in his cab on May 24, 2007. Kenan was sentenced to life without parole by Senior Resident Superior Court Judge W. Allen Cobb.

Faison’s taxi was found the morning of May 24 on Cool Springs Road, near Kenansville. Well-known in the area, Faison was found behind the wheel of the cab that he operated as part of Faison Taxi Service.

According to state’s evidence, fragments of a potato were found inside the taxi, “consistent with a potato being used as a silencer on a firearm.” An autopsy on Faison revealed he had been shot twice in the head.

Last month, Brandon Sebastian Rice, 21, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of both Faison and Earl Jeffrey Newton, 31, shot to death in his Harrells home during a robbery less than four months later. During the investigation of the murder of Faison, it was determined that suspects in Newton’s murder may have been responsible for the cab driver’s death.

Law enforcement officers were led to Kenan. While Rice made no statements to investigators about the murder of Faison, Kenan did.

State prosecutors said Kenan was interviewed on Oct. 3 by State Bureau of Investigation agents and Duplin County Sheriff’s detectives and detailed the events leading up to Faison’s murder.

According to state’s evidence, Kenan told investigators Rice was a member of the Black Gangster Disciples, a gang in which Kenan had joined by being “blessed in.” The term is one that refers to the act of becoming a gang member without having to endure various other forms of initiation.

Kenan told investigators he, Rice and two others went to Piggly Wiggly in Warsaw and stole a potato from the store to use as a silencer for a gun. Kenan told officers he gave the potato to Rice, who had devised a plan to rob Faison, according to evidence from the state, represented by Chief Assistant District Attorney Ernie Lee and Assistant District Attorney Robert Roupe.

Faison’s cab service was subsequently called and Faison picked up Kenan, Rice and a juvenile. After a few moments, the taxi turned on to Cool Springs Road and Rice pointed a gun at the back of the driver’s head, demanding money. Kenan told investigators Faison kept driving and “Rice got scared and shot Faison in the back of the head.”

According to prosecutors, Kenan initially said Rice stood at the driver’s door and shot Faison a second time. Kenan later admitted to firing the second shot, into the left side of Faison’s head, prosecutors attested. According to investigators, Kenan said the 63-year-old was not alive when he shot him but “he did not want to take a chance.”

Kenan stood back after shooting Faison, and Rice took the man’s wallet, prosecutors said.

Kenan said he split the money with Rice and the juvenile. The three then went to Rice’s car and, while driving away, Kenan said he threw his pants outside the car window to dispose of them. The potato, the teen told authorities, had exploded throughout the car and onto the pants.

Latent prints found on the outside of the taxi cab were sent to the SBI lab in Raleigh and were determined to belong to Rice and Kenan.

Rice’s plea would come on Feb. 18. Following Kenan’s plea Monday, District Attorney Dewey Hudson said he hoped the second life sentence handed down in Faison’s murder would act to bring his family closer to peace, while reassuring fearful citizens in Duplin and the surrounding area. He credited the efforts of the SBI and local law enforcement with bringing the two “to justice.”

“Both of these cases resulted in substantial active sentences and it is hoped that these pleas of guilty will provide some closure for the victim’s families,” Hudson said in a prepared statement. “These pleas of guilty will prevent Kenan and Rice from ever again committing any harm against the people of Duplin County.”

Charges are still pending against two others in Faison’s death, including a juvenile and Rochael Delisia Dobson, 19, of Wallace, who also stands charged along with three others in the death of Newton.

Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 121, or by email at sicrime@myclintonnc.com.