District Attorney Kassie Coleman announced that James Alexander Starks, 33, entered a plea of guilty today to the crime of Second Degree Murder and Aggravated Assault. Circuit Court Judge Bo Bailey sentenced James Alexander Starks to serve a term of forty (40) years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections on the charge of Second Degree Murder and ten (10) years suspended on the charge of Aggravated Assault. Starks will serve the forty-year sentence without the possibility of parole or early release.
“This maximum forty-year sentence for second degree murder provides Ms. Berry’s family with closure and justice without having to suffer the additional trauma of a trial. Our office is committed to prosecuting violent offenders to the fullest extent of the law.” said Coleman.
Starks was arrested by the Meridian Police Department on January 13, 2020, for the murder of Ta Tanisha “NeNe” Berry.
The Meridian Police Department investigated the case. The case was prosecuted by District Attorney Kassie Coleman and Assistant District Attorney Tommy Whitfield.