WEST POINT – A Clay County Circuit Court jury on Wednesday found a West Point man guilty for the 2022 capital murder of Mikel Craven.
Emerson Houston, 22, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole after the jury deliberated for only 45 minutes, 16th Circuit District Attorney Scott told The Dispatch.
Houston was one of four suspects charged with the murder, all of whom were teenagers at the time.
Colom called the case “inhumane” and “unexplainable.”
“These boys all came from a financial situation where they were robbing a poor person,” he said. “There was no need for them to rob this person. … What’s disturbing about it is, somehow these guys got in their head that they wanted to prove how tough they were.”
Colom said the case started March 11, 2022, when two witnesses found Craven lying in a ditch, suffering from gunshot wounds. Despite paramedics’ life-saving efforts, Craven died at the scene.
About six weeks after Craven’s death, a witness told investigators brothers Jeremy Klutts Jr. and Greyson Klutts were involved in the murder. Greyson Klutts told investigators he and his brother went to their friend Austin Hill’s house on March 11 to hang out as they typically would.
When the brothers arrived, Hill was messaging Houston on Instagram about plans to rob the home of someone they knew. Houston then picked up the three boys, and the group rode together to make sure the targeted victim was at work and not at home.
The boys then went to what they thought would be an empty home. However, when they arrived, they noticed someone was still inside.
“They still decided to rob them,” Colom said. “So they hid the vehicle, crawled through the woods and crawled to the front of the house.”
Both brothers testified Jeremy Klutts stayed in the car while the three other boys left the vehicle. Emerson and Austin were both carrying guns, they testified.
When they got to the front porch, Craven opened the door, prepared to defend himself with a machete.
“They testified that basically what happened was … Austin Hill started demanding money from Mikel Craven, and that at some point, Austin shot and then Emerson shot, and both of those shots were fired inside the trailer,” Colom said.
When the police learned this information, Colom said Houston provided a statement in which he admitted he had gone to the house with a plan to rob Craven. He claimed Hill fired the first shot.
“He claimed he didn’t know if he hit him or not, and that they made an agreement not to tell anybody because they didn’t want to get in trouble,” Colom said.
Investigators accessed the boys’ Instagram messages, which revealed Houston was the one to initially reach out to Hill about potentially robbing someone. The messages also indicated the boys had planned to bring guns with them, and they knew someone was in the home they were targeting.
“Afterwards, when they found out Mikel Craven was dead, they were not remorseful at all about it,” Colom said. “At one point, I thought the most damning message was Emerson Houston’s text to Austin Hill that said, ‘I always wondered what it felt like to kill somebody. I don’t feel nothing. Ha ha ha.’”
When testifying in his own defense, Houston admitted to his participation in the robbery, but he placed the blame on Hill while characterizing himself as a follower in the situation. He said he didn’t intend to kill Craven when he shot the gun, he was just “freaked out,” Colom said.
“When it comes to capital murder, it doesn’t really matter if you have the desire to kill someone or not,” Colom said. “If you’re with somebody, it doesn’t matter if they actually … fired the shot that killed (the victim). If you’re shooting with them, you’re as guilty as they are.”
At the time, Houston had recently turned 18, while the other three boys were all minors. That, and the Craven family’s desire to get the case to trial as quickly as possible, were both factors in Houston receiving life without parole instead of the death penalty, Colom said.
Hill pleaded guilty for his role in the crime in January 2025 and was sentenced to 41 years in prison without the possibility of parole.
Whether the Klutts brothers will be tried in front of a jury is still up in the air, Colom said.
“We’re trying to figure out what’s a fair punishment for them,” he said. “I think it’s going to take a little bit of time and some consultation with law enforcement. They did cooperate, they did testify, so they have to get some credit for that. But then talking to the family, seeing if we can come to an agreement on what’s a fair outcome.”
Colom said Houston’s guilty verdict is a great reflection of how the criminal justice system should work.
“Because it doesn’t matter how rich Emerson Houston is. It doesn’t matter how poor Mikel Craven is,” he said. “We have a jury system that treats those people just like we treat anyone else … I think it’s kind of a signal to parents. It doesn’t matter how great your circumstances or your child are, things can go south.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 42 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
