A Lawrenceville man was sentenced to life in prison Friday after a jury found him guilty in the November 2012 strangulation of his former girlfriend in her dormitory at Valdosta State University.
Darien Meheux turned himself in to sheriff's deputies last January in Schley County, about 115 miles south of Atlanta. His ex, nursing student Jasmine Benjamin, had sent text messages to a friend stating that Meheux was harassing her and had repeatedly tried to enter her residence hall, according to WCTV, the CBS affiliate that covers south Georgia.
“I have to be on edge in my own damn building,” Benjamin wrote in one of the missives. “Not even my home is safe.”
Prosecution witnesses included a friend of the defendant who testified Meheux had explained Benjamin’s cause of death before autopsy results were released to the public. And two inmates at the Lowndes County Jail testified Meheux admitted to the killing, telling them he was angry with Benjamin.
Defense attorney Steve Roberts moved for a mistrial after the the prosecution rested, arguing the state had failed to introduce sufficient evidence to convict his client. In his closing, Roberts said Meheux had “absolutely no reason to have done what they accuse him of doing,” according to local media outlets.
During sentencing, Meheux addressed the victim’s family.
“Jasmine was an amazing person,” he said. “She was special and I cared about her a lot. I loved Jasmine. I loved being with her. But I was not in love with her.”
Benjamin and Meheux graduated from Central Gwinnett in 2012, enrolling at VSU in the fall. Friends of the former couple told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last year that Meheux resided in a dorm close to Georgia Hall, where Benjamin lived and was found dead.
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