Rock Hill man gets 25 years for two SC shootings while on bail for NC mall shootout
A Rock Hill man will spend the next 25 years in a South Carolina prison after accepting a plea deal in two killings that occurred while he was out on bail for a mall shootout in Pineville, N.C.
Jamie Gavantay Williams did not admit guilt in either fatal shooting Monday in York County criminal court at the Moss Justice Center. Still, Williams, 27, accepted a plea deal rather than risk a trial where he could have been sentenced to life in prison if convicted, court testimony showed.
Williams pleaded guilty under an Alford plea to voluntary manslaughter in the August 2021 shooting death of Antwan Agurs, and the November 2021 shooting death of Kevion Harris.
Williams also was charged in North Carolina after a May 1, 2021 shootout with Harris at the Carolina Place Mall in Pineville, N.C., prosecutors said in court. He was on bail with GPS monitoring when the two Rock Hill victims were killed in August 2021 and November 2021 outside a Rock Hill apartment complex.
Harris was injured in the shootout at the mall with Williams in May 2021. Six months later, Harris was fatally shot around 20 miles away in Rock Hill, prosecution and defense lawyers said in court.
The Herald was the only news outlet in the courtroom during the sentencing.
Manslaughter plea under Alford
Williams was originally charged with murder in both killings. He pleaded guilty in both cases to the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter under the Alford plea. Voluntary manslaughter carries a maximum of 30 years in prison.
In an Alford plea, a defendant receives a benefit for pleading guilty and accepts that there is a substantial likelihood of being found guilty if there was a trial, visiting South Carolina Judge Eugene Griffith said Monday in court.
Williams pleaded guilty in a negotiated agreement with prosecutors with a cap of 30 years for both killings and an unrelated drug charge, court statements Monday showed.
Griffith sentenced Williams to 25 years total on all charges.
“I hope that brings closure to everyone,” Griffith said in court.
Two killings and Mall shootout
Both Agurs in August 2021 and Harris in November 2021 were shot outside apartments off Heckle Boulevard in Rock Hill, 16th Circuit Deputy Solicitor John Anthony said in court.
Anthony said the negotiated plea agreement provides a reasonable resolution to the two homicide cases.
Williams had served a three-year sentence in prison for other convictions before the 2021 shootings, Anthony said in court.
Williams’ lead defense lawyer, Phil Smith of the York County Public Defender’s Office, said Williams was shot three times at the N.C. mall — in the chest and extremities, Smith said.
“The mall shooting puts all this in motion,” Smith said in court.
Defendant and families speak in court
Williams told Judge Griffith he accepted the plea agreement without admitting guilt. Williams said in court that, if he went to trial, he was taking a risk that he would never see his family again.
“Judge, I am not a monster, I am not a killer, I am not a gangster, I am not a thug,” Williams said in court.
The courtroom was almost filled with family and friends of both shooting victims on one side of the room. On the other side were friends and family of Williams.
Family members for both victims killed in the shootings said in court they wanted justice in the cases.
Williams and members of his family asked the judge for mercy in the sentencing.
