Man, Woman Found Guilty of Manslaughter; Man Sentenced to Over 4 Years for Handing Woman Gun in Fight that Escalated to Fatal Shooting in 2022

NORFOLK, Va. — Arien Dajuan Clinton, 24, pleaded no contest on Wednesday to voluntary manslaughter, was found guilty, and was sentenced to serve four years and two months in prison after he handed a gun to his co-defendant, 25-year-old Quasia Elizabeth Sheppard, which she used to fatally shoot a woman after a fight in 2022. Ms. Sheppard also pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter on Nov. 13, was found guilty, and will be sentenced in 2026.

Around 2 p.m. on May 17, 2022, Ms. Sheppard shot the victim, 20-year-old Stariyana Patterson, in her face using Mr. Clinton’s gun after Ms. Sheppard challenged a woman (whom Ms. Patterson knew) to a fight and was bested by the woman and the woman’s friend. Ms. Patterson was not directly involved in the fight, but she had been holding a backpack which contained the woman’s gun following the fight. Ms. Sheppard was angry at the woman for spreading a rumor that Mr. Clinton (Ms. Sheppard’s friend, to whom she referred as her brother) had passed to the woman a sexually transmitted infection from their prior relations. Ms. Sheppard went with Mr. Clinton to the woman’s residence at the Parkwood Manor apartment homes off West Little Creek Road to challenge her to a fight over those rumors. The woman did not initially engage with Ms. Sheppard, whom she did not know, when Ms. Sheppard first arrived at her doorstep. Instead, the woman stayed inside with her friend and contacted her brother, who soon after arrived at the apartment complex with his girlfriend, Ms. Patterson.

After her brother and Ms. Patterson arrived, the woman and her friend went outside to fight Ms. Sheppard, but Ms. Sheppard and Mr. Clinton had left the premises. In the meantime, the woman placed a zipped backpack containing a firearm near the apartment complex’s trash bins. Moments later, Mr. Clinton drove Ms. Sheppard back to the apartment complex. Ms. Sheppard got out of the passenger seat of the car, began cursing at the woman, and started fighting the woman’s friend. Ms. Sheppard was bested in her fight with the woman’s friend, and the woman then began fighting with Ms. Sheppard.

The fighting eventually dispelled, and Ms. Sheppard returned to Mr. Clinton’s car yelling, “Give me the gun." Mr. Clinton handed Ms. Sheppard a gun, and Ms. Sheppard brandished the gun at the woman, her friend, and Ms. Patterson. The woman’s friend challenged Ms. Sheppard to "go ahead and shoot” as she and Ms. Patterson moved backwards to the main entrance of the apartment complex and as the woman went to retrieve her backpack from the trash bins. The woman then handed Ms. Patterson the backpack containing the firearm while she unzipped the bag herself to retrieve her firearm. Ms. Sheppard began firing Mr. Clinton’s gun at the three women while this was happening, hitting Ms. Patterson in her face and killing her immediately. The woman exchanged gunfire with Ms. Sheppard, and Ms. Sheppard retreated to Mr. Clinton’s car, getting away.

As a result of the Norfolk Police investigation into this shooting, Ms. Sheppard and Mr. Clinton were both charged with second-degree murder and using a firearm in the commission of murder.

Ms. Sheppard intended to put forth a self-defense claim had her case gone to trial and, on Nov. 13, 2025, she entered an agreement to plead no contest, pursuant to the ruling in North Carolina v. Alford, to voluntary manslaughter. Ms. Sheppard’s Alford plea acknowledges that the Commonwealth had sufficient evidence for the homicide conviction, although she maintains her innocence. There is no agreement as to the sentence Ms. Sheppard will receive. Judge David W. Lannetti accepted Ms. Sheppard’s plea agreement, found her guilty of voluntary manslaughter, and set her sentencing hearing on Feb. 6, 2026.

On Wednesday, Mr. Clinton also entered an Alford plea of no contest to voluntary manslaughter with the agreement that he will serve four years and two months in prison with another five years and 10 months suspended on the conditions that he has no contact with the other witnesses from the fight, completes an indeterminate period of supervised probation, and remains of uniform good behavior for five years after his release. Mr. Clinton’s active sentence was at the midpoint of his state sentencing guidelines. Judge Robert B. Rigney accepted Mr. Clinton’s plea agreement, found him guilty, and sentenced him per the agreement.

“These pleas are a compromise that eliminates risks for both sides and offers the certainty of accountability for the victim’s death,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “We have prosecuted this case as a murder thus far because we felt that the evidence showed that the defendants were the aggressors. At trial we expected them to assert that they acted in self-defense. Regrettably, witnesses who had been cooperative before have become uncooperative. I once again extend my condolences to the victim’s family. We will continue to prosecute cases of violent crime and to make the hard choices necessary to keep our community safe.”

Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Phil Y. Bailey and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney J. Drew Fairbanks are prosecuting Ms. Sheppard’s and Mr. Clinton’s cases, and Norfolk Police Detective John W. Murphy III led the investigation.

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