SAN ANTONIO – Moments after District Judge Philip Kazen sentenced Jeremiah Barefield, 34, to life in prison Friday for the 1997 murder of a woman at an East Side, lounge Barefield's mother leaped from her seat in the courtroom and shouted that her son was innocent.
"Your brother did it," Beverly Arnold screamed. "You didn't do it and I'm going to prove that you didn't do it."
Barefield was convicted on Thursday of the 1997 murder of Kimberly Coleman. She was shot to death inside the 402 Lounge.
The murder went unsolved until 2011, when Barefield's DNA was identified on a baseball cap found near the murder scene. He gave police a statement and was charged with the murder.
After he was sentenced, Barefield claimed police tricked him into make a confession.
"It was illegally obtained and they know it was," he shouted as his mother continued insisting that his brother killed Coleman.
Barefield's brother Chris is deceased.
During the sentencing phase of the trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Barefield had a total of nine felony convictions on his record ranging from assaults to drug dealing.