MACCLENNY, Fla. – The Jacksonville NAACP is raising concerns about a Baker County murder case, but the story starts with a shooting last summer in Macclenny.
On June 26, 2025, a burst of gunfire near Quail Lane left 19-year-old Devin Powers Jr. dead and another teen injured, according to court records. Investigators later wrote that the case involved multiple people, a shotgun, and two defendants who said they fired after being shot at.
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A few months later, a Baker County grand jury indicted Jamarian Byrd and Travis Roberts Jr. on first-degree premeditated murder and other charges. The indictment alleges the men “did unlawfully kill” Powers “from a premeditated design to effect the death … by shooting” him, and it also includes a charge of aggravated battery and counts accusing them of shooting into occupied homes and firing in public.
For the mothers of the two men, the hardest part has been what’s at stake if a jury convicts.
“You know what that carries,” Kalissa Warnick, Roberts’ mother, told News4JAX. “That’s life in prison.” When asked what it feels like knowing that possibility is on the table, Warnick’s answer was short:
“It’s heartbreaking.”
Latelsa Bowen, Byrd’s mother, described the last year as overwhelming. “All kinds of feelings — just hurt, scared, anxious, just everything,” she said.
Those emotions are now colliding with a major legal fight over Florida’s self-defense law.
Byrd and Roberts asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing they should be protected under Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” immunity. In a written order, a judge said the court agreed the defense cleared an initial hurdle — writing that Roberts “has established a prima facie claim of self-defense.
But the judge ultimately denied immunity.
In her order, the judge wrote the defendants were “entitled to use deadly force” at the moment Powers “raised a shotgun and pointed it” at them and fired.
The problem, the judge said, is what happened next.
The judge wrote that entitlement “dissolved the moment” Powers “began to retreat … and was no longer a deadly threat.” The order adds that the defendants’ own statements supported the state’s argument that they continued firing as Powers ran back toward a home.
“Additionally, the defendants, who did not know (redacted )and had no acrimonious history with him, outnumbered him and quickly and easily overpowered (redacted) when they sprayed the neighborhood with at least 47 bullets,” the judge said, explaining the ruling denying the immunity.
Both attorneys are now trying to overturn that decision. In a petition filed July 1, Byrd’s attorney said Powers was still armed and the danger had not truly ended. The filing also asks for an emergency pause while the appeal is considered.
That’s when the Jacksonville NAACP entered the conversation.
In a July 1 news release, the NAACP said it is “deeply concerned” by the denial of immunity and called for “fair and equal application of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law” in the Byrd and Roberts cases. The group also pointed to what it described as evidence presented in court and said, “justice must be served fairly, consistently, and without regard to race, neighborhood, or background.”
In an interview with News4JAX, NAACP Jacksonville President Isaiah Rumlin said, “We feel that this is a clear stand your ground case.”
He called on community leaders to pay attention and speak out.
For now, the charges remain in place — including first-degree murder — as the appeal moves forward and the families wait for the next decision in court.