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Petry -
Swallow
After pleading guilty to the murder of a man he called his “friend,” Darian Petry of Port Arthur was sentenced to the maximum allowed under a plea agreement with prosecutors at the end of January.
Petry stood accused of shooting longtime friend Kenneth Swallow, 30, of Port Arthur, on Aug. 16, 2020. Petry turned himself into officers of the Port Arthur Police Department the day after the shooting, reportedly admitting to being the gunman.
In defense of the admitted murderer, attorney Tom Kelley called Diana Petry to the stand to speak on behalf of her brother. According to Diana, her brother suffers from a cognitive disorder.
“He’s very helpful, very nice,” Diana swore. “He’s always been there for me – before all this stuff happened.”
Petry took care of his mother when she was infirmed, Diana said, as well as assisted in rearing nieces and nephews.
Prosecutor Phillip Smith called witnesses less favorable to the defendant, including a detective with the PAPD Major Crimes Unit.
“He said he wanted to confess to the shooting,” the detective said of encountering Petry the day after the shooting, when the accused arrived at the police department with his brother in tow. “He wanted to talk about shooting and killing someone the night prior.
“If I recall right, he said he was intoxicated and they got into an argument.”
The detective said Petry seemed to have some diminished memory of the totality of the murder, but did describe details that detectives were able to later confirm with physical evidence at the scene.
Additionally, Petry admitted that he took the murder victim’s vehicle after the crime – ultimately wrecking Swallow’s Cadillac while at a Sonic in the hours after Swallow was found in the street with multiple gunshot wounds. Petry also presented with blood from the murder victim on his shoes and socks, the prosecution detailed.
Sylvia Gorrer, Swallow’s mother, said she wanted to believe in Petry’s innocence, but was unable to do so after seeing the evidence of Petry’s guilt.
“I asked the prosecutors to let me see the evidence,” Gorrer said. “When I seen the evidence …”
“Even life wouldn’t be enough for you,” she said. “If you did this – and you said you did it – life is not enough.”
Before receiving a 25-year prison sentence for murdering his one-time friend, Petry apologized for his actions.
“I’m really sorry for this,” Petry said from a jail cell Zoomed into court for the sentencing proceeding. “Ain’t nothing I can say can bring him back.
“Me and (Swallow) was real close. I didn’t mean to do this. I didn’t.”