Judge drops charge against man accused of taking part in Bluffton teen’s murder
A judge ruled there was not enough evidence to charge one of the four accused in the March 5 murder of a Bluffton high school senior.
The charge against Jayden Lamont Void, 18, of Bluffton — accessory to murder after the fact in the killing of Dwon “DJ” Fields, 18 — was dropped on Friday.
“This is very thin evidence,” Beaufort County Magistrate Judge Frederick Corley said.
The charge was the only one leveled against Void, so he will go free. He has been held in the Beaufort County Detention Center since March 6.
He was charged alongside his sister, Shayniah Void, one day after Fields was found dead in his car at the entrance to Hampton Lake.
The Fields family is “livid,” according to Tabor Vaux, an attorney with the family.
What happened?
The judge’s ruling in the preliminary hearing, held to determine whether police had probable cause to arrest Jayden Void, was the result of a disputed legal interpretation.
Bluffton Police accused the Void siblings of directing shooters to Fields’ car, a case of mistaken identity, on the night of March 5.
One of the accused shooters, Jimmie Green, 19 of Hardeeville, told the Voids to be on the lookout for “ops,” or opponents, according to previous testimony from Bluffton investigator Ryan Fazekas.
Green and Ty Leic Dae Jhon Chaneyfield, 18, of Ridgeland were involved in a spat with a different group of Bluffton teenagers, Fazekas said. Before the shooting, a string of retaliatory drive-by shootings of homes in Beaufort and Jasper counties had been reported.
On the night of March 5, the Voids thought they spotted the “ops” in a car leaving the Wendy’s parking lot off May River Road in Bluffton.
It was not the car they were looking for, according to testimony.
DJ FIelds was driving the car, with Edwin “EJ” Graham Jr., 16, and Kylan “KJ” Simmons, 18, as passengers.
None of the three in Fields’ car had any involvement in the disagreement. Fazekas said Graham bore a striking resemblance to one of the intended targets.
Jayden Void told police that Green and Chaneyfield followed Fields’ car. He said they shot up the car as they passed it on Bluffton Parkway.
Shayniah Void was on Facetime with Jimmie Green during the shooting, Fazekas said. Jayden Void was in the car for the Facetime call.
Fields was killed. Graham was shot twice in the face but survived. Simmons was shot in the leg.
Afterwards, Void said he and his sister met Green and Chaneyfield at Station 300, a bowling alley in Bluffton, for food.
Green allegedly told Void to delete all contact information, texts, and call records from his phone between them.
That constituted accessory to murder after the fact, said Trasi Campbell, a prosecutor with the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Jayden Void’s attorney, Keith McCarty, argued that the evidence was insufficient for an arrest.
“Deleting your contact information is not assistance,” McCarty said.
“Nothing that has been produced here has been probable cause,” he said. “This individual, who has no criminal record, should not be in jail. ... An absence of texts does not mean those texts exist.”
Campbell said Void had knowledge that the killing took place and cooperated with Green.
“One of the perpetrators of the crime is asking him to erase any kind of communication,” Campbell said. “He has to understand that’s providing assistance.”
Judge Corley disagreed.
Until police have evidence that any communications deleted were helpful to Green, the bar required to charge Void has not been met.
Despite the judge’s ruling, the Solicitor’s Office has the ability to take the case to the grand jury for an indictment.
Preliminary hearings for Shayniah Void and Jimmie Green have not been scheduled.
This story was originally published June 4, 2021 at 1:24 PM.
