St. Helena man sentenced to life in prison after gas station shooting that killed 1
A judge sentenced a St. Helena Island man to life in prison Thursday after a four-day trial related to a 2020 gas station shooting that killed one man.
A jury found Deavion Jahquwan Burgess, 20, guilty of one count of murder, one count of attempted murder, and one count of possession of a weapon in commission of a violent crime, according to the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
The jury, made up of six men and six women, deliberated for 3 1/2 hours on Thursday before reaching a verdict, said Solicitor’s Office spokesperson Jeff Kidd.
Circuit Judge Robert J. Bonds, of Walterboro, handed down the sentence of life in prison.
On April 3, 2020, Burgess was accused of firing five rounds into the car where Quinton Ventress, 26, was sitting outside a Tiger Express gas station on Sea Island Parkway.
Ventress was hospitalized and put on a ventilator for five months before dying, the Solicitor’s Office said. Another passenger was shot at but uninjured.
“This was a vengeful, broad-daylight killing that took place in the heart of the St. Helena community,” said prosecutor Trasi Campbell in a news release. “Mr. Burgess presented a lethal threat to that community.”
Lawyer Scott Lee, of Beaufort, represented Burgess in court. He argued that Burgess was acting in self-defense when he shot at Ventress.
In an email late Friday afternoon, Lee said “the appeal process” of the verdict “is in progress.” He declined to speak further on the case.
According to a 1999 S.C. Court of Appeals decision, there are four elements to proving self-defense in court:
▪ The shooter must have been “without fault in bringing on the difficulty,” meaning they did not instigate the shooting.
▪ The shooter must have actually believed their life was in danger or they would sustain serious injury.
▪ The shooter’s belief of danger must have been reasonable. Would an ordinary person do the same in their place?
▪ There were no other means of avoiding the danger.
The murder weapon in the 2020 shooting was never found, according to the prosecutor’s office, but the whole shooting was captured on video surveillance.
Correction: An earlier version of this article was incorrect regarding the injuries of the other passenger in the car that Burgess shot at. The other passenger was uninjured.
This story was originally published March 25, 2022 at 10:01 AM.
