Nacho Hippo murder trial verdict. What jury decided happened at North Myrtle Beach eatery
A central question was decided by 12 jurors following a murder trial that’s lasted more than a week: Was Lafreida Todd scared of Quentin Johnson? Or was she mad at him?
On Jan. 17, the jury ultimately believed the prosecution and found Todd guilty of murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
Almost three years ago, on July 28, 2022, Todd shot Johnson, her coworker at Nacho Hippo in North Myrtle Beach, The Sun News previously reported. He died in the hospital three days later.
After the verdict was read, Todd was sentenced to 36 years for murder and five years for possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. The sentences are to be served concurrently, with credit for time served.
Jurors heard both the state and the defense’s closing arguments all day Friday, with no break for lunch until 3 p.m.
Less than an hour later, they had a verdict.
“We’re very happy with the jury’s verdict and we’re happy they upheld the rule of law, that’s the whole argument in this case,” Seth Oskin, senior assistant solicitor for Horry County, said. “More importantly than that, this victim’s family waited a long time for it, so I hope today’s verdict gives them peace.”
Johnson’s two older brothers, Joshua Jones and John DeVille Jr., his older sister, Tanitha Sterling, and his mother, Tanya Jones, said they all felt relieved with the jury’s verdict.
“Justice has been served for our brother. It’s been a long, hard fight for 2 1/2 years,” Joshua Jones said. “Today felt like [the shooting] happened yesterday.”
Sterling said that she felt that in the end, “justice will be served.”
“No, we didn’t get the life sentence,” she said. “But I’m happy, because 36 years is a long time to have to sit and think about what she did to my brother, and as a current law enforcement officer working in the jail, they can’t take that.”
Joshua Jones, Tanya Jones, DeVille and Sterling all gave victim impact statements to the court before the official sentencing.
Todd’s defense attorney, Stuart Axelrod, told jurors that his client feared for her life the night she shot Johnson.
Axelrod played Todd’s 911 call during his closing argument. He said the state had allegedly repeatedly tried to keep him from accessing the call over the course of the trial. He got it three days before closing arguments on Friday.
The state solicitor disagreed, arguing for hours and claiming that Todd was not in fear for her life and that Johnson’s death was in fact murder.
She asked the jury repeatedly to seek the truth and verify it, replaying security camera footage from the night of the shooting.
The question central to the verdict was not whether Todd fired the gun that night, but whether she did so out of self defense.
This central point to the argument came after a three-day hearing before the trial started over a “Stand Your Ground” motion. The judge ultimately did not grant Todd immunity or the motion.
Todd’s trial was supposed to have started Jan. 6, but the self-defense hearing pushed back opening statements.
This story was originally published January 17, 2025 at 4:22 PM.
