Judge declines to reduce murder charge

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - A judge has declined to reduce the capital murder charge against one of two men charged in the death of 44-year-old Michael David Porter, who was shot down in 2008 while trying to get directions to his grandson's football game.

The attorney for Tevin James Benjamin had asked for a reduced charge based on the outcome of Darwin Wells Jr.'s capital murder trial. Wells was convicted in October of a lesser charge - murder by deliberate design.

The Mississippi Press reports that the judge this past week said Wells' trial had nothing to do with Benjamin.

The capital murder trials of Benjamin and Terry Hye Jr. are set for May 3.