Drug dealer who fled Rock Hill cops gets 28 years after plea in fatal crash

The convicted drug dealer who fled police with narcotics and guns in his car and caused a fatal car crash in 2016 was sentenced to 28 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to 10 felonies.

The sentence from Judge Brian Gibbons in a series of crimes where Stevie McClinton, 24, faced up to 117 years in prison was called not nearly severe enough by the widower of the woman killed.

“I was expecting him to at least serve 50 or more years,” said Bill Bartell, whose wife of five decades, Virginia Bartell, 72, was killed in the crash. “I don’t think the penalty is adequate for what this man did.”

Bartell in court said his wife was a retired schoolteacher who “always obeyed the law.”

Gibbons, the judge, called McClinton’s actions “stupid” and “reckless.”

“You knew you had illegal drugs and guns in the car and you made the decision to run,” Gibbons told McClinton.

McClinton, 24, was trying to get away from Rock Hill Police Department officers trying to stop him in September 2016 when his car smashed into another vehicle at the intersection of Heckle Boulevard and Crawford Road. McClinton ran a red light in his 1973 Buick and smashed the Toyota Prius carrying Virginia Bartell and two others who were on their way home from a golf outing. Bartell later died. The others were injured.

McClinton fled the scene and fought with responding police before two neighbors tackled him so he could be arrested. Inside McClinton’s car investigators found 70 grams of crack cocaine, nine grams of powder cocaine, marijuana, a digital scale and several guns including two assault rifles.

McClinton pleaded guilty to trafficking crack, hit and run resulting in death, failure to stop for a blue light resulting in death, and seven other charges.

Prosecutors asked for a far heavier sentence that was “stacked” with the death, weapons and drug “devastation of crimes” McClinton committed. Prosecutors balked at the idea that McClinton’s intelligence had anything to do with him being a repeat criminal who caused a crash that killed a woman and hurt two others while fleeing with drugs and guns.

“He was not stupid when it came to running a drug operation,” said Willy Thompson, 16th Circuit deputy solicitor.

McClinton did not speak in court except to say he was guilty. His lawyers, Harry Dest and Mark McKinnon of the York County Public Defender’s Office, said McClinton’s intelligence is so low he is mentally retarded and that his actions were “reckless,” not “intentional.”

Dest said McClinton’s actions caused “human carnage” but said after court he was pleased with the sentence that “showed mercy” toward McClinton.

This story was originally published November 27, 2017 at 6:20 PM with the headline "Drug dealer who fled Rock Hill cops gets 28 years after plea in fatal crash."