A Rock Hill 20-year-old got involved with guns; judge tells him he can do better
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A South Carolina judge who sentenced a Rock Hill 20-year-old to five years in prison for three gun crimes last year urged him to take advantage of a five-year prison plea deal to turn his life around after seeing young people killed by guns.
“I see this all over the state, young kids and guns, they end up getting shot,” visiting Judge Eugene Griffith of Newberry said Friday as Jaquavious Marcel White pleaded guilty in York County criminal court. “I want you to take time to reflect...You can overcome this, or you are gonna end up like your friend.”
White’s best friend, Tyjah Brevard, 18, died after being shot Thanksgiving night. White was wounded that night but survived. White and his friend had tried to rob another man at an apartment complex parking lot when the victim shot them both, prosecutor John Anthony said. The shooter was not charged.
White admitted Friday to possession of a stolen gun in February 2025, malicious damage to property after a shootout in August, and attempted common law robbery when he was wounded on Thanksgiving.
White was out on bail for the first two gun crimes when he was shot while committing the robbery, according to Anthony and court records.
The first time police arrested White last year, he was in a car where police found the stolen gun in a bag that had marijuana in it too, Anthony said. White was released on bond, then arrested again in August when he fired at a car in a shootout in which the car’s windshield was shattered. He again received bail before the Thanksgiving incident.
After he was released from the hospital after being shot on Thanksgiving, Rock Hill police arrested him and he’s been in jail ever since. He walked with a slight limp into court Friday from a holding cell.
Defense: Guilty plea, but White claims he was robbery victim, too
Courtney Clark, White’s public defender, told Griffith she and White agreed to the plea on all three incidents and that he “does not deny the facts as alleged.”
However, Clark said White contends he was being robbed when he was shot on Thanksgiving. Yet if the case went to trial, based on substantial evidence, White would likely be convicted so he agreed to plead guilty, Clark said.
The robbery sentence is for 15 years, but Griffith suspended 10 years of that sentence with five years active prison time, which was part of the negotiated plea deal. He told White he had “10 years hanging over your head” if White didn’t comply with terms of three years of probation after release. White has to pay $271 to replace the windshield shattered in the shootout in August.
Griffith cautioned White about life choices and told White that at his young age, he still had plenty of time to turn his life around.
“You will be 21 late this summer, you got a lot of life ahead of you, you need to take advantage of this,” Griffith said. “I wish you good luck in your healing. Keep the faith. Good luck to you, buddy.”
