Charlotte barber shop murder trial results in life sentence for man
A man was sentenced to life in prison for killing a woman outside a Charlotte barbershop off Rozzelles Ferry Road in 2020.
Zenita Graham, 30, told officers “Doug” shot her before she died Feb. 17, 2020.
“Doug” was Dayshawn Beckham, 29, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers found. Judge David Strickland convicted him Friday in a bench trial in Mecklenburg County that began Monday, according to a news release from the district attorney’s office.
Graham called 911 from the ground outside in the 3200 block of Rozzelles Ferry Road, near the intersection of Interstate 85 and Brookshire Boulevard. She was sitting wounded beside the driver’s side of a vehicle at about 8 p.m. that Sunday February evening. She later died at the hospital.
Officers the next day arrested Beckham. He had a 9 mm pistol in his pocket, and at his home police found bullets and the keys to the car Graham sat beside, wounded.
Shell casings from the crime scene matched Beckham’s gun, and his fingerprints were on the passenger side of the car.
Correction: Beckham was convicted in a bench trial. Because of an editor’s error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly reported how he was convicted.
This story was originally published October 4, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
