The gun ‘accidentally went off,’ says Beaufort man sentenced for murder of Bluffton man
A Beaufort man was sentenced to 40 years in prison Friday morning for the November 2020 murder of a Bluffton man.
Devante White, 28, was convicted in the death of Bluffton resident Timothy Milliken, whose body was found in his Westbury Park home in November 2020.
A jury found White guilty of murder, kidnapping and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. He was sentenced to 40 years for murder, 30 years for kidnapping and 5 years for possession of a weapon, which will run concurrently.
The sentence was handed down by Beaufort County Judge Brooks P. Goldsmith.
White was the first of four suspects that include Malik White, 24, of Beaufort; Jamal Coakley, 24, of Dale, and Sarah Barr, 19, of Summerville.
Devante White and Malik White are not related, according to Jeff Kidd, a spokesperson for the 14th Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
The three remaining suspects have all pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping and murder. They will likely be sentenced later Friday afternoon, Kidd said.
Barr, who was 17 at the time of the killing, was used as bait to allow the other three suspects to entrap and attack Milliken, according to police Cpl. William Weich, the case’s lead investigator.
Although Devante White was accused of pulling the trigger, Malik White, Coakley and Barr also faced murder charges under South Carolina’s “hand of one, hand of all” law.
Devante White’s defense attorney, Ashley B. Cornwell, and Assistant Solicitor Trasi Campbell denied requests to comment.
“My client maintains that he wasn’t aware of what was going to happen,” Cornwell said following the verdict.
Lawyers give their final appeals
“This was a calculated target attack set in motion by [Devante White],” said Campbell, who prosecuted the case.
In her closing argument, Campbell claimed Devante White spearheaded a plot to rob Milliken. When that plan fell apart, Campbell said, Devante White became frustrated and shot Milliken out of anger.
Campbell’s argument seeks to meet South Carolina’s legal definition of murder, which reads that the crime must be carried out with “malice aforethought” and cannot be done unintentionally.
“He finally let loose — the anger and frustration boiled up to such a point that he shot Tim and killed him,” Campbell said. “That’s malice.”
Cornwell finalized the defense’s case with an argument of duress, claiming that on the night of Milliken’s death, Devante White was acting out of fear — fear of himself or his family losing their life at the hands of Coakley.
“My client participated because he was scared,” Cornwell told the jury. “He never intentionally harmed Timothy Milliken.”
Devante White can even be seen protecting Milliken in surveillance camera footage, Cornwell argued. As Coakley attempted to “throw punches” at Milliken, Cornwell said, Devante White tried to “protect” Milliken by standing between him and Coakley.
“The death of Timothy Milliken was tragic, but it’s not murder,” Campbell said, “at least not at the hands of Devante White.”
The defendant takes the stand
Beginning jury deliberations Thursday morning, White took the stand.
Answering questions from Cornwell, he told his own perspective of the events of Nov. 16, 2020.
“I felt bad,” Devante White said of Milliken’s death. “I didn’t mean for it to happen.”
White said he never intended to hurt anyone, and was not told why the group was entering the gated community in Bluffton.
It wasn’t until the car was parked in the driveway, he said, that Coakley instructed him to grab Milliken.
White said he initially refused, but after a “heated argument” between the two, he complied out of fear — “because [Coakley] had a gun.”
“When Jamal gets mad, Jamal will get his way,” White said during his testimony. “He got that Napoleon complex.”
After White grabbed Milliken and as the group walked to the home’s backdoor, Coakley had the gun pointed at Milliken’s head, White testified.
Coakley then gave the gun to Malik White, who refused and returned the gun to Coakley. Still holding onto Milliken’s hoodie, Devante White “snatched” the gun from Coakley, and as he tried to move Coakley from the doorway, he noticed the revolver’s handle was cocked, he testified.
That’s when the gun “accidentally went off,” Devante White told the jury.
This story was originally published December 16, 2022 at 12:49 PM.
