Jury acquits Providence man in 2014 murder of East Providence barber
PROVIDENCE – A jury last week acquitted a 51-year-old city man of the 2014 shooting death of an East Providence barber.
Derek Winslow was found not guilty last Thursday after a four-day jury trial before Superior Court Judge Kristin E. Rodgers, according to Stefanie Murphy, who represented Winslow with Kensley Barrett.
A Providence County Grand Jury returned a secret indictment in August charging Winslow with murder and discharging a firearm while committing a crime of violence that ended in death in the murder of 42-year-old Yusef A’Vant on April 13, 2014, at his Krazy Kuts barbershop on Pawtucket Avenue in East Providence.
Two others already serving time for murder of Yusef A'Vant
Winslow’s indictment came six years after those of his alleged co-conspirators, Thomas Mosley and Evan Watson.
Mosley, 41, is serving two consecutive life sentences, plus 15 years, at the Adult Correctional Institutions after being tried twice in the slaying of A’Vant, a beloved family man and mentor to youths in East Providence.
Watson, 34, pleaded guilty to the murder of A’Vant and awaits sentencing. Watson is serving 50 years, with 20 of those years non-parolable, after pleading guilty to shooting and wounding two people in a home invasion in Providence in July 2014, court records show.
A’Vant, who left behind a teenage son, was related to retired Rhode Island State Police Detective Lt. John A’Vant and Providence Detective Angelo A’Vant, head of the department’s cold-case unit.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Scott Erickson and Special Assistant Attorney General Robert E. Johnson IV.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Derek Winslow found not guilty of murder of Yusef A'Vant
