2021 Myrtle Beach double homicide suspect to face November ‘Stand your ground’ hearing
Fayetteville, North Carolina residents 19-year-old Ja’Leel Stephens and 21-year-old Kanon Cook Melvin were shot and killed during a June 2021 drug deal in Myrtle Beach.
Suspect Brandon Hembree is facing trial this November, according to a court roster provided by the Horry County Clerk of Court.
Hembree was arrested on June 13, 2021 by the Myrtle Beach Police Department and was charged twice with murder and once with possession of a weapon during a violent crime, according to the roster.
An arrest warrant details police responding to a shooting incident on June 10, 2021 at 4344 Willoughby Lane in Myrtle Beach. When law enforcement arrived, Stephens and Melvin were already deceased.
“During the investigation, detectives learned that the defendant and co-defendants initiated contact with the victims in an attempt to sell the victims illegal narcotics,” read the arrest warrant. “While engaged in the transaction, both victims were shot and the defendant and co-defendants fled the scene. The defendant and co-defendants were identified by witnesses and video surveillance.”
Hembree was 21 at the time of the killings and his co-defendants were Brady Gilcrease who was 20 at the time and Daniel Hembree who was 20 at the time.
All three suspects were charged for Stephens’ and Melvin’s deaths.
Brandon Hembree, according to the court roster, will be having a “stand your ground hearing.”
Bill 4562 from the South Carolina General Assembly outlines that an individual may be immune from criminal prosecution and civil actions under circumstances that warrant deadly force, or self-defense, against another person.
“To provide the burden of proof is on the state to prove that immunity is inapplicable when a defendant asserts entitlement to immunity in a pretrial hearing pursuant to stand your ground provisions,” the bill reads.
The trial will begin during the second week of November and Benjamin H. Culbertson will be the presiding judge.
This story was originally published September 20, 2022 at 7:30 AM.
