By SHERRI KOLADE
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS — A Dearborn Heights man was sentenced to spend no more than 45 years in prison for the murder of his wife on Aug. 30 in their house in the 7400 block of Nightingale.
Shonta Maurice Dupree, 38, pleaded guilty Jan. 11 before Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Vera Massey Jones, for stabbing his wife to death. Jones sentenced him that day to spend between 27 and 45 years in prison.
Dupree already served 134 days of jail time in the Wayne County Jail, which was credited to his sentence. He is being held at the Woodland Center Correctional Facility in Whitmore Lake.
In September, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged Dupree with first-degree premeditated murder of his wife, Nytia Dupree, which carries a maximum term of life in prison and no parole.
He was arraigned Sept. 3 at the 34th District Court by Magistrate Jeffrey Fanto.
Police Capt. Jeff Seipenko said in September, Dupree called 911 from his house about 5 p.m. Aug. 30 and told police someone broke into their house while he and his wife were home and stabbed his wife to death.
Seipenko said when officers arrived, they found a deceased woman and a knife they kept for evidence. During further investigation, the evidence was not consistent with the husband’s version of events and he was taken into custody the same day.
During Dupree’s preliminary examination Oct. 10, police officers said they saw Nytia Dupree lying lifeless in a pool of blood on the floor.
Assistant Medical Examiner Lokman Sung, who performed the autopsy on Nytia Dupree, said he identified multiple injuries to the outside and inside of her body.
The couple was going through a divorce, their 16-year-old son, DeShonta Dupree, said during Dupree’s preliminary examination.
DeShonta Dupree said he was at Crestwood High School marching in the band during a football game when he learned about his mother’s death.
DeShonta Dupree said during the preliminary examination that his father asked him to come home before he started band practice because a pipe had burst and when he got home, he did not see a burst pipe.
DeShonta Dupree then told the court that his father asked to see his wife’s Facebook page from DeShonta Dupree’s cell phone and after he did so, his father then became upset and asked DeShonta Dupree to show him her “real” page.
DeShonta Dupree then told the court that he told his father that the page was her real one.
DeShonta Dupree then said that his father kept his cell phone and he went back to school for band practice and stayed until about 6:30 p.m., when police picked him up from school and took him to the station.
DeShonta Dupree is staying with relatives, according to a published report.
Shonta Dupree was ordered to pay $6,138 in court, state, restitution and crime victim’s fees.
His earliest possible release date is Aug. 29, 2039.