Judge drops charge against 2nd person accused of taking part in Bluffton teen’s murder
One of the four initially accused in the March 5 killing of a Bluffton High School senior will go free after a judge dismissed the sole charge against the teen in court Friday morning.
Shayniah Void, 18, faced the charge of accessory to murder after the fact in the murder of 18-year-old Dwon “DJ” Fields. Both the prosecution and the defense agreed that “accessory after the fact is not the appropriate charge for Ms. Void today,” Solicitor Mary Jones told Beaufort County Magistrate Judge Frederick Corley.
Corley dropped an identical charge against Void’s brother, 18-year-old Jayden Lamont Void of Bluffton, in June.
Bluffton police had accused the Void siblings of directing shooters to Fields’ car in a case of mistaken identity on the night of March 5.
While only five family members were allowed in the courtroom at the Beaufort County Detention Center, dozens gathered outside the courthouse, enduring a 95-degree heat index and wearing Bluffton High colors: green, white and black.
Most of them wore shirts emblazoned with pictures of DJ Fields on the front, his football jersey number 55 on the back and “FOREVER” written above it in the place of his name.
It’s possible that the state will bring other charges against Shayniah Void. Jones emphasized that accessory after the fact wasn’t the correct charge but did not say whether accessory before the fact was a possibility. Void has been held at the Beaufort County Detention Center since March 6.
Two Jasper County teens still face charges in Fields’ murder.
Ty Leic Dae Jhon Chaneyfield, 18, of Ridgeland and Jimmie Green, 19, of Hardeeville have been charged with murder, attempted murder and possession of a weapon in commission of a violent crime. Both are in jail.
Ryan Fazekas, a detective sergeant with the Bluffton Police Department, added that police are still looking for a third shooter, an unidentified black man nicknamed “Shy.”
‘I killed my homeboy?’
In court on Friday, the Bluffton detective took the stand, sharing details about the police investigation into the shooting that left Fields dead and two other teenage passengers in his car wounded.
Fazekas said he responded to the March 5 911 call. Fields was found with his cousin Edwin “EJ” Graham and Kylan “KJ” Simmons. Graham is still suffering medical issues from gunshot wounds to the face that he sustained in the shooting.
The accused shooters, Green and Chaneyfield, were involved in a spat with a different group of Bluffton teenagers, Fazekas previously testified.
Before the shooting, a string of retaliatory drive-by shootings of homes in Beaufort and Jasper counties had been reported.
Green told the Void siblings to be on the lookout for “ops,” or opponents, Fazekas said.
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.
They called Green over FaceTime and told him the location of the car before driving to the Parker’s gas station parking lot next door, where they waited until Fields’ car left and Green arrived, Fazekas said.
Shayniah Void told police that she did not know that Green intended to shoot anyone, but she heard Chaneyfield say he was “going to shoot somebody” in the background of a FaceTime call with Green prior to the incident, Fazekas said.
The Voids followed Green’s car and saw muzzle flashes through the windows before seeing Fields’ car swerve into the Hampton Lake sign and into a ditch, Fazekas said.
Fields was driving the vehicle, but he and his passengers had no involvement in the disagreement. Still, Fazekas said Graham, one of the car’s passengers, bore a striking resemblance to one of the intended targets.
Shayniah Void was arrested by Bluffton Police for simple marijuana possession after the shooting.
She initially lied to police about her knowledge of the shooting, Fazekas said, but responded truthfully after being “painted into a corner” by the information her brother had given in a separate interview.
She said she did not know that Green intended to shoot anyone, though she’d heard Chaneyfield say in the background that he was going to shoot someone that night.
She and Jayden Void met Green at Station 300, a local bowling alley, after the shooting. That’s where Green gave Shayniah Void the small amount of marijuana that led to her arrest, Fazekas said.
While there, Green allegedly asked Shayniah and Jayden Void to delete information pertaining to him — text messages, contact cards and call history— in their phones.
Shayniah Void told police that she saw guns in the back of Green’s car, and that Green said to her, “bro, y’all telling me that I killed my homeboy?” He was referring to his friendship with Fields, and Simmons, according to Fazekas.
Fazekas also noted that Shayniah Void and Green had previously been in a relationship, and discussed dating again at Station 300.
Why were charges dropped?
William Runyon Jr., Shayniah Void’s defense attorney, argued that “she told them what she’d done and saw and did not impede the investigation more than a few minutes in her conversation.”
He also noted that police were able to conduct forensic analysis and subpoena cell phone companies for some of the Voids’ deleted phone data.
“Maybe there’s some other charges that could apply, but certainly not accessory after the fact to a felony,” Runyon said.
The defense made a similar argument in Jayden Void’s case, with Corley saying then that accessory to murder charge was based on “very thin evidence.”
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This story was originally published July 30, 2021 at 11:55 AM.
