Rock Hill man gets 18 years for killing man he once considered a friend
A Rock Hill man who pleaded guilty to a charge of voluntary manslaughter was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison in connection with the 2023 death of someone he had considered a friend.
Quadir Sharyf Baxter, 46, pleaded guilty on June 17 to shooting and killing Arthur McCoy Jr. during a Saturday night neighborhood get-together on Sept. 16, 2023. Baxter signed a plea agreement.
During his sentencing hearing on Thursday afternoon, defense lawyer Tom Bowen and Baxter claimed his actions were self-defense.
“This was self-defense your honor. This was a tragedy. This was an altercation between two friends that was escalated by a third party,” Baxter said in court. “I hate that this happened. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t feel remorse or not saddened by what’s happened, because that man was my friend. I love his family, but I was left with no choice. I was defending myself.”
While Bowen asked for an 8- to 12-year sentence, prosecutor Matthew Hogge asked the judge to sentence him to 20 years.
“Arthur McCoy Jr. died a peacemaker who had the courage to stand up to a bully. I’d ask that you right that wrong by sending this bully, his killer, to 20 years in prison,” Hogge said.
Bowen said in court that Baxter has no prior record and had not been in trouble before with the law.
“It is a tragic accident, but for a poor man who has never been in trouble and is a good man, I believe that 20 is excessive,” said Bowen.
What happened
On the night of the shooting, during a heated conversation between Baxter and another man, McCoy stepped in with the hope of resolving the conflict. Baxter shot his pistol at McCoy and left him with three gunshot wounds.
Hogge said a round entered McCoy’s waist, then traveled downward and hit an artery. That caused the blood loss that led to his death.
After McCoy was struck, Baxter fled. He turned himself in on Sept. 18, 2023, saying that what happened was an accident.
Emotional statements in court came from both Baxter and McCoy’s family. The two families were close prior to the incident.
“Ten months ago I gave birth to what would have been my dad’s second grandson,” said McCoy’s youngest daughter, Brenda. “My baby was set to be due on the worst day of my life, the day my father took his last breath.
“My son doesn’t have a clue who my father is. My dad’s life was took by someone who I called my uncle, whose house I stayed at as a child. For your children to still get to talk to you, and visit you, to say ‘I love you’ and for you to be able to say it back, hurts me way more.”
McCoy’s eldest son, Arthur McCoy III, spoke, as did his sister, Katherine McCoy, about the life McCoy lived and how hurt they were by Baxter’s actions.
Baxter’s family also was given time to speak in court. Baxter’s mother, Aliceia, older brother, Troy, two daughters and wife all spoke on his behalf, begging the judge for leniency.
“This man is not a monster. What happened was a tragic accident,” said Baxter’s wife in court. “We have known this family for a very long time, since we moved down here from New Jersey.
“He tells me over and over again how sorry he is and how he wished he followed his first instinct to just go home that night. He may not get to say it but I truly apologize to them for what happened and their loss. We lost our only son, so I know what it is. If the tables were turned and that was him that was gone, I don’t know what I would do. I just want the sentence to be lenient your honor.”
Circuit Judge Keith Kelly imposed the 18-year sentence.
