Raven Lynette Swain: Murder, Trial, and Death Sentence

Raven Swain, a 24-year-old Birmingham woman, was shot and killed on July 28, 2020, in Underwood Park in a murder-for-hire arranged by her boyfriend, Demarcus Chandler, from inside an Alabama state prison. A Jefferson County jury convicted Chandler of capital murder in April 2025, and he was sentenced to death. The man he hired to pull the trigger, Solomon Minatee III, pleaded guilty to murder in April 2026 and received life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Who Raven Swain Was

Swain worked as a sterile processing technician for surgical instruments at UAB Hospital.¹ Her older brother is Ryan Jamaal Swain, the actor who played Damon Richards-Evangelista on the FX series Pose.²

Prosecutors described her relationship with Chandler as a tumultuous cycle of domestic violence. In 2019, Swain sought a protection-from-abuse order against him, citing incidents in which he pistol-whipped her and fired shots at her car. Chandler had previously faced felony charges of domestic violence strangulation and suffocation against her. In one text later presented at trial, Chandler wrote of Swain: “This ho going to make me kill her.”³

How the Killing Happened

On the evening of July 28, 2020, Swain drove to Underwood Park, in the 1100 block of 26th Street South on Birmingham’s Southside. Prosecutors later established that Chandler, then incarcerated at the West Jefferson Correctional Facility on other charges, had sent her there under the pretense of conducting a drug deal on his behalf.¹ Minatee was waiting for her. Shortly after 7 p.m., Swain was shot under the left arm while sitting in the driver’s seat of her Hyundai Sonata, which rolled into foliage near the park entrance. Officers found her unresponsive and pronounced her dead at the scene at 7:48 p.m.⁴

Within minutes of the shooting, Chandler began contacting Swain’s family and friends to tell them she was dead. To Swain’s best friend, he wrote: “Bitch, you need to get up. Your best friend is in Southtown dead.”³ He also posted on Facebook that evening: “God forgive. Papa don’t.”⁵

The Contraband Phone That Broke the Case

Chandler’s near-instant contact with Swain’s family after the shooting drew investigators to him quickly.⁵ An Alabama Department of Corrections lieutenant, acting at the direction of Birmingham homicide detectives, searched Chandler’s cell and recovered a contraband cell phone. After obtaining search warrants, police found multiple calls between the phone and a number linked to Minatee in the minutes surrounding Swain’s death.⁶

Minatee was arrested on August 24, 2020, and charged with capital murder. Chandler was charged four days later, on August 28.⁷

Chandler’s Capital Murder Trial

Chandler’s trial ran eight days in Jefferson County in April 2025.⁸ Deputy District Attorney Charissa Henrichs and prosecutor Neal Zarzour argued that Chandler had Swain killed because he believed she had stolen $8,000 from him and thrown his drugs out of a window while he was locked up.¹

The heart of the case was a series of texts recovered from Chandler’s contraband phone. As Swain approached the park, he messaged Minatee in rapid succession:

6:46 p.m.: “I’m on the phone with Raven.”
6:57 p.m.: “I’ll call you when she pulls up.”
7:02 p.m.: “She out there.”

Less than an hour after the shooting, Minatee texted back: “Bruh, we need the money. The work is done.” Minatee also sent Chandler a Cash App screenshot that day, and location data from Minatee’s phone placed him at Underwood Park at the time of the killing. Prosecutors reminded jurors that under Alabama law, the person who arranges a contract killing is as legally responsible as the person who pulls the trigger.³

Chandler’s public defenders argued that Minatee alone was responsible and had killed Swain during a drug deal gone wrong. Defense attorney Blair Shores told the jury there were no bank records or evidence of an explicit agreement to kill, and that boasting from a prison cell does not make someone a killer. Chandler did not testify, and the defense called no witnesses.³

The Verdict and Death Sentence

On April 15, 2025, the jury unanimously convicted Chandler of capital murder.¹ In the sentencing phase, jurors voted 10–2 in favor of death, with two recommending life without parole. Jefferson County Circuit Judge Michael Streety imposed the death sentence.⁹

Swain’s mother, Lolita Braxton, addressed the court. “Raven was more than just a daughter. She was the light in our lives,” Braxton said. “Her dreams, her plans and her future were stolen in an instant by a senseless and heartless act.” Turning to Chandler, she added: “You caused her death, but you will never erase her. God is in control. Not Papa.”¹

Solomon Minatee III’s Guilty Plea

Minatee pleaded guilty on April 21, 2026, as jury selection for his own trial was getting underway. He pleaded to a reduced charge of murder, down from capital murder, and Judge Streety sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Prosecutors said Minatee had been promised $8,000 for the killing but was never actually paid.¹⁰

A Second Set of Charges Against Chandler

The murder-for-hire case was not the end of Chandler’s exposure. On September 12, 2025, a Jefferson County grand jury indicted him and Justin Jamond Hendrix on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder. Prosecutors allege that on August 20, 2024, Hendrix fired shots into the home and SUV of the Department of Corrections lieutenant who had searched Chandler’s cell and found the phone used to arrange Swain’s killing. No one was home at the time. Authorities allege Hendrix acted at Chandler’s direction from prison.⁶ A trial date on those charges has not been set.