Jury Convicts Antwan Hue in Norfolk Murder-for-Hire: Mother Killed Before Her 9-Year-Old Over Child Support, Mandatory Life Awaits
A federal jury in Norfolk, Virginia, convicted Antwan Denetrick Hue, 42, on October 28 of conspiracy to commit murder for hire, murder for hire, murder while engaged in drug trafficking, and conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced. Hue faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison when he is sentenced on March 4, 2027.
According to court records and evidence presented at trial, from 2015 to 2019 Hue managed an international drug trafficking organization. Hue and Regina Sade Chen, also known as Erica Williams, 36, imported multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine into the United States from the Caribbean, including Jamaica, employing transporters including Kayla Bedessie, 34, and Deshawn Hassan Mercer, 33, to smuggle cocaine into and money out of the United States.
When Hue applied in 2016 to renew his expiring U.S. passport, he was told he was not eligible because he owed child support to the mother of his minor child. In November 2016, Hue hired Mercer and co-defendant Zquan Leon Steeps, 32, to murder the mother, believing her death would end the payments and allow him to renew his passport.
On December 4, 2016, Mercer, Steeps and Denasha Campbell, now deceased, went to the victim's home in Norfolk. After Campbell knocked and asked to use the victim's phone, Mercer and Steeps forced their way in and shot and killed the victim in front of her 9-year-old child, then fled, leaving the child to call 911.
After learning that child support obligations survive a parent's death, Hue negotiated on December 24, 2016 for the victim's mother to take full custody of his son in exchange for discharging his support obligations. He obtained a passport renewal on October 22, 2018, and was arrested by Homeland Security agents in Florida in August 2019 as he attempted to take possession of a kilogram of cocaine.
Chen pleaded guilty on August 29, 2024 and faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison. Bedessie pleaded guilty the same day and was sentenced on September 8, 2025 to 70 months in prison. Mercer and Steeps pleaded guilty in October 2024 to conspiracy to commit murder for hire and face a mandatory minimum of life in prison. The case, No. 2:24-cr-38, was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph E. DePadilla and Brian J. Samuels.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 美国司法部罗伯特·肯尼迪大楼全景（APK 摄，CC BY 4.0，Wikimedia Commons）；本案被告无官方照片发布，以起诉方司法部大楼为配图
