JACKSON, MI — With closing arguments complete and instructions given, 12 jurors are deciding the fate of a man who contends he acted in self-defense when he shot and killed a Jackson woman in 2021.
Jury deliberations began Friday afternoon, Sept. 19, in the case against Ke’Juan Watts, charged with six felony counts including second-degree murder for the shooting death of Sha’Nya Coleman-Young.
He faces a possible life sentence if convicted.
Coleman-Young, 18, was shot Aug. 25, 2021, in the parking lot of Keyes Log Cabin Party Store, 500 Fourth St., near downtown Jackson.
Throughout the week-long trial the defense argued Watts, 22, was set up to be robbed as he sold $250 worth of marijuana and was forced to fight for his life.
“Mr. Watts is a vulnerable young man who had been jumped be