Fort Mill man, who saw mother shot to death in 2012, jailed without bond in murder

Jackel Clinton was wounded as he watched his mother get shot to death in 2012. Now Clinton will remain in jail without bond in another killing in which he is charged with murder.

Clinton, 23, is accused of killing a Rock Hill man who was paid to beat up Clinton, according to court testimony.

Clinton is charged with murder and possession of a weapon in a violent crime in the Sept. 7, 2018 shooting death of De’mon Davis, 22.

Davis bested Clinton in a fistfight on Sanders Street in in Fort Mill, prosecutors said. Then Clinton took a gun from a friend and shot Davis in the back of the head as Davis fled, said 16th Circuit Deputy Solicitor Willy Thompson.

Clinton, of Lancaster, has been in jail since he was arrested in Chester after fleeing the York County crime scene. He confessed to his girlfriend about shooting Davis, prosecutors said.

He was in court Tuesday to seek his release on bond until the case goes to trial. Clinton will face 30 years to life in prison if convicted of murder.

Thompson, the prosecutor, dealt with Clinton as a shooting victim in the 2012 killing of Clinton’s mother, Jackie Craine.

Craine was executed by her ex-boyfriend in a vehicle during a Fort Mill domestic violence incident in which Clinton was wounded.

Clinton was shot in the leg, and had to break the car window to escape being killed as he watched his mother shot 14 times in 2012, Thompson said.

But since the shooting, Clinton has had convictions for drug crimes and has been arrested for other crimes involving guns and drugs, Thompson said.

With the broad daylight shooting of another man, Clinton is a danger to the public and should remain in jail, Thompson said.

“He seemed to be a nice young man,” Thompson said about Clinton after the 2012 killing of Clinton’s mother. “But he has become engulfed with the wrong people, and become the ‘wrong people’ himself.”

Clinton has been charged with spitting on a jailer since he was arrested, and has had several other disciplinary problems while in jail, prosecutors said.

Davis, the victim, was a star football player at Rock Hill’s South Pointe High School and played on several state championship teams. His mother, Tanyeika Davis, said in court Tuesday that Clinton had a choice to kill her son.

“He’s a cold-blooded murderer,” Davis said of Clinton in court. “My son did not deserve to be gunned down.”

Clinton did not speak in court.

His lawyer, 16th Circuit assistant public defender Michael Morin, said that Clinton and another man were supposed to fight. But the other man hired Davis to fight Clinton for him. Davis was then shot, Morin said.

“The other man paid Mr. Davis $150 to beat up Mr. Clinton,” Morin said.

Morin said that the only evidence prosecutors have that Clinton fired the fatal shot is from the man who paid Davis to fight and failed to tell police the truth after the fight. Morin argued that Clinton would not be a danger to the public if released on bond.

Judge Dan Hall denied bond to Clinton. Hall said the evidence presented about Clinton’s use of guns, previous arrests and drugs show that Clinton is a danger to the community.

No trial date has been set in the case.

This story was originally published January 22, 2019 at 2:02 PM.