Guilty verdict: Life sentence for murder of Bluffton High School football star DJ Fields
A Beaufort County jury found 21-year-old Bluffton man Ty Leic Chaneyfield guilty in the 2021 murder of Bluffton High football player Dwon “D.J.” Fields, drawing the nearly week-long trial to a close.
By a unanimous jury decision, Chaneyfield was convicted Monday morning of murder, two counts of attempted murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and several counts of assault and battery by mob. For the murder charge, he was sentenced to life in prison by Circuit Court Judge R. Ferrell Cothran Jr., set to run concurrently with his smaller sentences.
Monday morning’s verdict marks the second conviction in connection with Fields’ death. Jimmie Green — who was reportedly with Chaneyfield when the two targeted the wrong car with a shower of gunfire — earned a 40-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to murder this May.
Breaking down in tears, Dwon Fields Sr., D.J.’s father, pleaded with Judge Cothran to remember his family’s hurt when considering Chaneyfield’s sentencing.
“Your honor, it hurts me every day to get up in my house and know that I can never talk to my son again,” Fields Sr. said. “I have to go to a cemetery.”
Keema Bryant, D.J.’s mother, asked Judge Cothran to consider a maximum sentence for Chaneyfield, noting that Fields had purchased his cap and gown for high school graduation the day prior to his death.
“He was so looking forward to his next phase of life, and it was all taken from him that night,” Bryant said.
Prior to the sentencing, 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone also showed Judge Cothran a surveillance video from the Beaufort County Detention Center, showing Chaneyfield joining in a fight with other inmates in the jail’s central hall. Seen side-by-side with the Chaneyfield’s button-up shirt and tie inside the courtroom, the footage shows a more authentic side of the defendant, Stone claimed.
“He joined with a bunch of other people to hurt someone for fun,” Stone said. “That’s exactly what he did in (D.J. Fields’) case.”
Stone recommended life sentences for both Green and Chaneyfield. While he respected Green’s 40-year sentence, the prosecutor said he believed a life sentence for Chaneyfield was appropriate.
“Ty Leic Chaneyfield shot one of the two fatal bullets,” Stone told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette following the sentencing. “It wasn’t his fight, and he jumped in anyway. I think that’s a pretty clear indication of somebody that is just mean. I was comfortable asking for life in prison, and I think that was the right decision.”
The trial began Tuesday morning with opening statements, as defense attorney Scott W. Lee argued current evidence could not prove Chaneyfield was in the car at the time of the shooting. On Wednesday, the prosecution questioned a witness who testified that Chaneyfield was caught on video in the car “shouting he wanted to shoot someone.” Both sides presented closing arguments Thursday afternoon.
Consisting of seven men and five women, the jury deliberated throughout the entirety of Friday morning and afternoon. The jurors also requested to rehear Chaneyfield’s testimony, igniting worries of a deadlock.
Also charged in connection with Fields’ death are siblings Jayden Void, 22, of Bluffton, and Shayniah Void, 21, of Orangeburg, who police say called the shooters’ attention to the wrong car. Stone said he plans to prosecute both cases for the siblings, who are each charged with multiple counts of assault and battery by mob.
An unidentified 18-year-old male, who was a minor at the time of the shooting, faces the same set of charges as Chaneyfield, according to a Friday afternoon press release from the Solicitor’s Office. Prosecutors are attempting to complete a “waiver procedure” to transfer the case from Family Court to General Sessions so the man can be tried as an adult, Stone told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.
‘It was not supposed to be like that’
On March 5, 2021, the Void siblings met Chaneyfield and Green at Station 300 bowling alley in Bluffton because Shayniah Void allegedly wanted to buy marijuana from Green, according to Solicitor Stone. Green allegedly told the siblings he was looking for “the ops,” meaning “opposition.”
After leaving Station 300, the Voids went to Wendy’s on S.C. 170 and spotted what they thought was the target. The siblings then called Green and Chaneyfield — but they called attention to the wrong car, Stone said.
“It was not supposed to be like that,” Keema Bryant, Fields’ mother, previously told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.
The targeted vehicle, parked at Wendy’s on S.C. 170, was being driven by Fields. Fields had two passengers in the car, 18-year-old Kylan Simmons and 16-year-old Edwin “E.J.” Graham.
Driving behind and past the students’ car, Green and Chaneyfield “unloaded on the car” with a Glock pistol and a mini semi-assault rifle, Stone said. Fields was shot twice; one bullet hit his liver, while the other severed his aortic arch. He died almost instantly, leading the car to crash into a nearby roadside wall.
Graham was shot twice in the head but survived “by the grace of God” after an emergency surgery, Stone added. Simmons, who was only injured in the collision, called 911, thinking he was reporting a car wreck.
Fields, who was a defensive lineman for Bluffton High School’s football team, was two months from graduating at the time of his death. He had made his college commitment to Greenville Technical College just one day before the shooting.
This story was originally published October 2, 2023 at 11:42 AM.
