A Florida man who fatally stabbed a friend during an argument in 2022 over Donald Trump’s businesses having gone bankrupt, is facing possibly spending the rest of his life in prison after being convicted of murder.
Donald Jamesbrown Henry, 38, awaits a sentencing hearing tentatively scheduled for October after jurors found him guilty Friday of second-degree murder in the killing of Shawn Popp, whose death came to be regarded by some as an example of the havoc that politics can wreak on interpersonal relationships in the US.
Henry’s conviction, under Florida law, requires him to serve at least 16 years and nine months in prison without the possibility of parole. The state’s maximum punishment for second-degree murder is life imprisonment.
According to authorities, Popp was smoking marijuana at a friend’s house in the community of Arcadia on 22 October 2022 when he and Henry – another visitor – became locked into an argument about Trump, who at the time was a fellow Florida resident in between his two presidencies.
Popp made a statement about “Trump going bankrupt”, investigators wrote in a sworn statement that was later filed in court and reported on by Reuters. Henry, meanwhile, “strongly believed that Donald Trump did not go bankrupt but instead … chose the wrong individuals to do business with, which caused it to fail”, investigators wrote.
A number of businesses that Trump ran before winning the 2016 and 2020 presidential races sought federal bankruptcy protection, and it was not clear whether the argument between Popp and Henry focused on any particular one of those cases.
Regardless, the two ended up fighting, with Henry convinced Popp “was talking to him like he was stupid”, authorities alleged. Investigators said Henry then plunged the blade of a kitchen knife that he was sharpening into Popp’s chest.
Popp subsequently walked outside, crossed the street and collapsed dead after being overheard remarking, “You stabbed me, you son of a bitch,” the news website Law & Crime reported.
Once the local sheriff’s office was called out to investigate, Henry claimed he had acted in self-defense and therefore had justifiably killed Popp. Henry maintained that fists were “deadly weapons” and he had first been struck in the face by Popp, prompting him to use the knife and “stop the threat”, deputies wrote in their sworn statement.
Deputies also accused Henry of explaining that his family members were high-ranking military members – and of saying that prior “training” he had received in survival and weapons “kicked in” during the fracas.
Though Henry had “superficial marks” on his forehead, investigators said they determined he did not have any injuries demonstrating that he needed to defend himself with deadly force. They jailed Henry – and on Friday, after brief jury deliberations at the conclusion of his trial, jurors returned a verdict finding him guilty of murder as well as trying to intimidate a witness out of cooperating with authorities, a statement from the DeSoto county sheriff’s office said.
“This verdict is a testament to the dedication and hard work of [law enforcement] who never stopped pursuing justice,” the sheriff’s office statement added.
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