Judge denies bond for man accused of killing Bluffton football player DJ Fields in March
A judge denied bond Thursday for a Ridgeland man accused of killing Bluffton teenager Dwon “DJ” Fields Jr. in a mistaken identity shooting in March 2021.
In a packed courtroom, S.C. Judge Bentley Price said Ty Leic Dae Jhon Chaneyfield, 19, of Ridgeland was a “severe risk” to the community — the reason for denying bond.
Families of both Fields and Chaneyfield filled the small courtroom.
Fields’ mother, Kema Bryant, her voice shaking, delivered an emotional plea to the judge about the impact of her son’s death.
“Every day my house is so quiet because he’s not there,” Bryant said. “I miss his laugh and our conversations.”
Meanwhile, Chaneyfield’s grandmother called her grandson a “very obedient and respectful” young man, advocating for his bond.
14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office prosecutor Mary Jones said Chaneyfield, along with co-defendant Jimmie Green, were driving around looking for “ops,” or enemies, on the night of March 5 when they were directed to a black sedan in Bluffton.
Chaneyfield and Green followed the car and shot it up, causing the car to crash on Bluffton Parkway near River Ridge Drive, Jones said.
But it was the wrong car, she said.
They had shot up a car full of Bluffton High School students: Fields, 18, Edwin “EJ” Graham Jr., 16, and Kylan “KJ” Simmons, 18.
Fields was killed in the shooting. Graham was shot in the face but survived, and Simmons was injured in the wreck.
Problem with police charges?
A lingering question in the case is the evidence pointing to Chaneyfield and Green as the shooters.
A day after the shooting, the Bluffton Police Department charged two Bluffton teens, who are siblings, with accessory after the fact to murder.
The siblings, Jayden Lamont Void and Shayniah Void, both 18 and from Bluffton, were accused of mistakenly pointing Chaneyfield and Green to Fields’ car and misidentifying them as “ops,” according to police testimony.
Chaneyfield and Green had no dispute with Fields and his friends; they were after a different group of teenagers.
Graham bore a striking resemblance to one of the teens Chaneyfield and Green were looking for, police said.
A judge set the Voids’ bonds at $1 million each as public outcry about the shooting was at its peak. But their charges were dropped months later. The charges brought by Bluffton Police were incorrect, a prosecutor suggested.
At a preliminary hearing for Shayniah Void, Jones with the Solicitor’s Office agreed with the defense that “accessory after the fact is not the appropriate charge for Ms. Void.”
At Jayden Void’s hearing, a magistrate judge said the evidence to support the charge was “very thin.”
In the days after the shooting, Bluffton Police found and charged Chaneyfield and Green after first interviewing and charging the Void siblings.
“Procedurally it was a little strange,” Jones told the judge Thursday about the charges against the Voids. She said the siblings “did provide statements to law enforcement identifying Mr. Green as well as Mr. Chaneyfield as the shooters that night.”
Scott Lee, a Beaufort-based lawyer representing Chaneyfield, suggested Thursday there were problems with the identification.
“There’s nobody who witnessed or places my client [at the] shooting,” Lee said.
It is unclear whether the Voids could face indictments by the Solicitor’s Office for their role in the shooting.
Bluffton police have said the agency is still investigating, and there is a third shooter, nicknamed “Shy,” that police are still looking for.
This story was originally published December 16, 2021 at 3:37 PM.
