A Green Sea man was sentenced to a maximum of 30 years Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to shooting and killing another man in a convenience store parking lot in 2008.
Richard Crawford pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter last week in connection to his confessed involvement in the killing of 24-year-old Edward McAlister.
Prosecutors said Crawford gunned down McAlister in the parking lot on May 17, 2008 and then fled the scene.
Police charged Crawford with -- and a grand jury indicted him on -- murder in the months following the killing, but prosecutors feared they'd have a tough time getting a guilty murder conviction.
Donna Elder, who represented the state, said there were allegations from the defense that Crawford and McAlister had previous conflicts. Elder said the defense claimed McAlister had actually shot Crawford a few months prior to McAlister's death.
To Elder that meant a defense could have argued Crawford acted "in the heat of passion" which under the law is characteristic of manslaughter, not murder.
Elder said while there was no way to prove McAlister shot Crawford (no police report was ever filed), there was a chance that enough doubt would be placed in a jury's mind. Plus, Elder thought a judge may direct a charge of voluntary manslaughter.
Nevertheless, Elder was prepared to go forward with a murder trial until the week the jury pooling began and the defense approached her with a plea deal.
Elder said surveillance video of the shooting wasn't presented to the defense until a few weeks ago because of technical playback issues. But when the defense saw that, they moved to plead to a lesser charge, Elder said.
While the plea deal was accepted and qualified by a judge last week, sentencing was held off until Tuesday. Judge Cottingham sentenced Crawford to 30 years without parole.
Police also arrested Richard Rouse, 27, Green Sea, and charged him as being an accessory after the fact of murder. Rouse's case is still pending.
