Prosecutor: Victim killed in 'ambush' shoot-out

Jerry Crew was found guilty of second-degree murder in the April 16, 2011, shooting death of 19-year-old Donnell Ellis Jr., even though he didn't pull the trigger. Ellis was actually killed when he and Crews lured a drug dealer and two associates into a motel room with the intention of robbing them and shots were fired.

DAYTONA BEACH -- After a lasting four days, a Volusia County jury deliberated for three hours Thursday before finding 56-year-old Jerry Roy Crew of Holly Hill guilty of second-degree felony murder and robbery, offenses that could net him a sentence of up to life in prison.

Assistant State Attorney Ryan Will prosecuted Crew with co-chair Assistant State Attorney Joe Warren. According to Will, the defendant and three other men arranged a drug buy from a known drug dealer in order to rob him. The drug dealer and two other men arrived by car to sell crack cocaine to one of Crew's co-defendants. The co-defendants lured the drug dealer into their motel room at the Pilot's Lodge in Holly Hill.

Will said, "Once inside, it was an ambush." One of Crew's accomplices in the crime, 19-year-old Donnell Ellis, Jr., died as a result of the shoot-out that followed.

Crew did not shoot Ellis but Ellis died during the commission of the robbery which under state law, the person or persons responsible for the robbery can be held accountable for a death that occurs during the robbery.

A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday before Circuit Judge R. Michael Hutcheson, who presided over the jury trial.