A Florida man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a woman in a bar parking lot, following a shooting incident that left her fatally wounded.

Christian Ketchup, aged 27, was found guilty by an Escambia County jury in late September. He was convicted on a single charge of second-degree murder with a firearm.

On Wednesday, Judge Amy Brodersen of the First Judicial Circuit handed down a life sentence without the possibility of parole to Ketchup for the murder of 25-year-old Tierra Binion, the mother of twins. Additionally, Ketchup was ordered to contribute $7,500 to a victim compensation fund.

Ketchup’s role in the tragic incident was clear, though he attempted to argue self-defense. This defense did not hold, as evidence showed Binion was shot 10 times in the back.

Following the sentencing, the victim’s sister expressed her view to The Pensacola News Journal, stating, “My opinion is life is justice. I expect nothing less.”

The altercation occurred on August 23, 2023, inside the Mugs & Jugs on Scenic Highway in Pensacola. The confrontation began when Binion and another woman confronted a bar patron for making inappropriate comments about their bodies. The dispute later escalated outside to the parking lot of the establishment, which serves as both a sports bar and a “package” store where patrons can consume drinks on-site or purchase alcohol to-go through a drive-thru.

Initially, the fight was between Binion and Ketchup’s girlfriend, Rachel DeRise, 25. Then, at some point, the man intervened.

DeRise and Binion were described as “mutually combatant” by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. Eventually, Ketchup launched himself toward Binion – punching her and knocking her down, according to video surveillance footage shown during Ketchup’s trial.

DeRise then took the opportunity to repeatedly punch the victim while she was down and unconscious. In September 2024, DeRise pleaded guilty to a lone count of misdemeanor battery for the attack. The girlfriend was sentenced to 60 days in county jail followed by a year on probation.

The man, however, went a different route.

Ketchup soon took out his weapon and squeezed the trigger while the victim’s back was turned. Then he did so nine more times.

Additionally, an Uber driver who was dropping off a passenger near the bar told deputies he saw Ketchup hit Binion before he pulled out his gun and “unloaded it” into the victim’s back.

“This victim was punched in her face by a large man, she was jumped on by his girlfriend, but somehow the defendant wants this court to believe, like some superhero, (Binion) rises up and starts attacking his girlfriend and him again, and then she’s reaching for a gun that we know she doesn’t have,” Chief Assistant State Attorney Bridgette Myers Jensen said during the murder trial, according to a courtroom report by the News Journal.

“This defendant essentially interjected himself into a fight that he had absolutely nothing to do with,” Jensen added. “And then he wants to be the big man on campus.”

Investigators found at least 20 shell casings near Binion’s body and another five casings in another area of the parking lot, according to court documents obtained by Pensacola-based ABC affiliate WEAR.

Ketchup then called 911 and identified himself as the shooter.

“I f–ed up,” the since-convicted man told the deputies who arrived at the bar. “I’m not a f–ing killer. I don’t do that. That’s not me.”

Investigators seized a Springfield Armory handgun from the immediate area; meanwhile, a witness discovered a SIG Sauer P365 semiautomatic pistol in the parking lot and gave it to a bartender.

And, it seems, the chaotic scuffle that finally turned fatal initially had nothing to do with Ketchup at all.

A female witness said in a sworn statement that she and Binion were at the bar minding their own business when an “unknown black male wearing a black shirt and grey shorts approached” them and started “talking about their bodies.” The witness further “stated they told him to stop and keep walking, but he kept harassing them,” according to the affidavit.

Ketchup’s attorney Thomas F. McGuire III previously told Law&Crime his client was not the man who was “being lewd with the girls” prior to the shooting. Indeed, documents described Ketchup as wearing a blue shirt and a cap on the night in question.

Later, the victim and her friends allegedly began “beating on” the purportedly “lewd” man, but at some point in the ensuing melee, DeRise was ensnared and attacked, McGuire said.

The defense, for its part, argued Ketchup believed Binion herself was armed that night because she had earlier used the phrase “my gun” – and because the bar’s clientele were often said to be armed.

The state said that logic did not excuse what happened.

“It was not reasonable for him to lose his cool when his drunken girlfriend got knocked down being too close to a fight,” Deputy Chief Assistant State Attorney Trey Myers told jurors during closing arguments. “It was not reasonable for him to punch a 5-foot, 5-inch female in the face twice, all because of a cat fight.”

The prosecutor went on to say it was not reasonable for the since-condemned man to “shoot an unarmed lady in the back 10 times.”