Chester woman guilty in Rock Hill shooting death. She’s now headed to prison
A Chester woman has been sentenced to prison after she pleaded guilty to shooting two men in a Rock Hill incident that left one victim dead.
Derrisha Lamontica Meeks, 23, of Chester, pleaded guilty in an Alford plea to voluntary manslaughter, attempted murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, illegal possession of a gun, and resisting arrest, court documents show.
In a plea agreement between Meeks and prosecutors, she was sentenced to nine years in prison on all charges, according to the lawyers in the case and court records..
James Mobley, 33, died after he was shot on May 31 on Carolina Avenue Extension in Rock Hill, according to police and court records. A second victim was wounded, prosecutors said. The shootings happened after an argument in the street, said Willy Thompson, 16th Circuit Deputy Solicitor.
Meeks was arrested days later. At that time she was charged with murder. The murder charge was reduced to manslaughter as part of the plea agreement, said Meeks’ lawyer, 16th Circuit Public Defender B.J. Barrowclough.
“Faced with the possibility of a life sentence for a potential conviction for murder, we believed the plea agreement was acceptable,” Barrowclough said after court.
Meeks pleaded guilty under what is called an Alford plea, in which a defendant does not have to admit guilt. An Alford plea means the evidence in the case supports that the defendant would be found guilty if the case went to trial, lawyers in the case said. Sentencing in an Alford plea is treated the same by the court as a straight guilty plea.
At the time of the killing, Meeks was out on bond in connection with two sets of weapons charges from arrests in York County in April and May, according to South Carolina court records.
Those other charges will be dismissed as part of the plea agreement, lawyers in the case said.
Meeks has past convictions for weapons possession, attempted armed robbery and other charges from 2019 in York County, court records show.
