Burlington woman charged in double murder case, accused of helping suspects flee

Burlington woman Samantha Batten, 22, faces two felony counts after helping murder suspects move between Durham and Greensboro after a fatal shooting that left two men dead and a woman wounded. Batten was indicted June 1 on two counts of accessory after the fact to first-degree murder. The indictment charges that she helped D’Monte Earl Kinney and Xavier Darrell-Shikeem Hodges evade arrest while evidence was destroyed.

If convicted on both counts, Batten faces nearly 40 years in prison. North Carolina law classifies accessory after the fact to a Class A or Class B1 felony as a Class C felony, and the case can be prosecuted in the county where the killing happened or where the alleged help was provided.

The case began just before midnight on March 13 in the 3500 block of North Roxboro Street near Regency Place Apartments in Durham. Officers found two men dead in a car and a woman injured but expected to survive. Durham police identified the dead men as 23-year-old Tevin Devonne Burney and 26-year-old Jarrett Lamon Godfrey, both from Durham. Burney was known locally as rapper Young Boss Tevo.

Kinney, 26, was later booked on June 4 and faces two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, and discharging a weapon into an occupied motor vehicle in operation. Hodges, 26, was also identified as a suspect and was in jail on unrelated charges.

Prosecutors allege the killings were gang motivated. Batten remained jailed without bond and was scheduled to return to court June 29.