The prison term follows a jury verdict that rejected the most serious charge but still held Daniels criminally responsible for the 2019 shooting.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Latoshia Daniels was sentenced Feb. 24 to 20 years in prison for killing pastor Brodes Perry and injuring his wife in a 2019 shooting, ending a closely watched Shelby County case built around a failed affair, a long-delayed trial and competing claims about intent.
The sentence matters because it closes the trial-court phase of a case that prosecutors framed as a planned confrontation and the defense cast as an emotional collapse. Daniels had faced a first-degree murder charge after the shooting outside Perry’s apartment in Collierville, but jurors in November 2025 convicted her instead of second-degree murder and criminal attempt to commit reckless endangerment. The result left the court to decide how much weight to give remorse, mental illness and the choices Daniels made before the shooting.
By the time the sentencing hearing opened, the case already carried years of history. Perry, 36, had once served in Arkansas before moving to the Memphis area and working at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church. Daniels, a former church member from Little Rock, told jurors their relationship began after she sought counseling over problems in her marriage. Defense lawyers said Perry kissed her during that period and the relationship became sexual. Daniels later testified that Perry led her to believe his wife would accept the arrangement. When the relationship ended, the case against Daniels said, she bought a handgun and drove to Tennessee on April 4, 2019. At Perry’s apartment, she spoke first with his wife, Tabatha Perry Archie, who said she was unaware of the affair. Perry then joined them outside. What followed became the center of the criminal case: a conversation, a walk toward the car and then gunfire.
Jurors heard sharply different explanations for what that moment meant. Prosecutors stressed preparation. They said Daniels traveled hours across state lines after arming herself, confronted the couple at home and opened fire after Perry refused to walk her to her vehicle. Defense lawyers focused on Daniels’ mental state and the emotional power the pastor had over her. During trial and sentencing, they described years of depression, earlier trauma and suicidal thinking. Daniels admitted she fired the weapon, but she said she had gone there intending to end her own life. The state argued the proof showed something else. Archie testified that after the first shots she ran to a neighbor’s house for help and was shot in the shoulder when she came back. Perry died. Daniels survived the encounter and later stood trial on charges that included first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and a felony firearm count.
The November 2025 verdict drew a line between those accusations and what jurors believed the state had proved. They found Daniels guilty of second-degree murder in Perry’s death and guilty of criminal attempt to commit reckless endangerment for the injury to Archie. They did not convict her of first-degree murder, and she was acquitted on a firearm charge. That outcome made the sentencing hearing crucial. Prosecutors asked Judge Jennifer Fitzgerald for a punishment near the top of the available range, saying Daniels’ conduct before and during the shooting showed severe disregard for life. The defense asked for a lower sentence and called the 2019 violence an isolated act by a woman whose judgment had been overwhelmed by mental illness and personal breakdown. Supporters of Daniels testified on her behalf, including relatives who said the shooting did not reflect the person they knew.
Daniels addressed the court directly before Fitzgerald ruled. She apologized to Perry’s family, to Archie and to her own relatives. “I’m sorry,” she said, adding that she knew what she had done and understood that her words could not undo it. She also told the court she was dealing with major depression at the time. Fitzgerald said she had listened to the mitigation proof but found the killing senseless. The judge noted testimony that Perry had wronged Daniels in the relationship and broke her heart, yet said those facts could not justify homicide. Fitzgerald sentenced Daniels to 20 years for second-degree murder and 11 months and 29 days for the second count, to be served concurrently. The ruling was below the maximum allowed but far above the minimum defense lawyers sought.
The hearing also made clear that the case will continue in appellate form. Daniels’ lawyers said they plan to seek a new trial and then appeal if necessary. Any appeal is expected to challenge aspects of the trial, the verdict or the sentence, though the specific claims had not been fully argued in open court when Fitzgerald imposed punishment. For Archie, the sentencing brought another public retelling of a shooting that changed her life in minutes. For Perry’s family, it marked the latest court milestone in a case that began outside an apartment in Collierville and stretched across nearly seven years. And for Shelby County prosecutors, the sentence reinforced their argument that this was not a momentary dispute without warning, but a violent act set in motion before Daniels ever reached the apartment complex.
The case is now moving from trial court to post-trial review. Daniels remains under a 20-year sentence, and the next formal step is expected to be a motion for a new trial followed by an appeal timetable if the conviction stands.
Author note: Last updated March 23, 2026.