Drugs, text messages highlighted in Coastal Carolina University murder trial

Jurors learned Wednesday, in the second day of testimony, that Marquis McDonald had signed up to work with police as a drug informant and that he and Anthony Liddell Jr., texted each other about buying marijuana before Liddell’s fatal shooting.

McDonald, 22, of Conway is charged with murder and armed robbery in the Feb. 26, 2013, shooting death of 19-year-old Liddell of Bennettsville.

The shooting happened in the parking lot of University Place Apartments where Liddell lived as a sophomore at Coastal Carolina University.

McDonald’s cellphone was found where Liddell was shot along with a .40-caliber bullet casing, said Randy Truss, a State Law Enforcement Division agent, who investigated the killing because it occurred on a public university campus.

Liddell was listed in McDonald’s phone as “Costal Boy Bud,” Truss said.

McDonald also had signed up as a confidential informant for the 15th Circuit Drug Enforcement Unit, but it was unclear if he had done any work as a drug informant, authorities said. Drug agents recognized McDonald in self-taken photographs on the cellphone and linked it to him in Liddell’s killing.

Liddell’s mother, Shelia Gillespie, briefly testified Wednesday that she knew most of her son’s close friends and she had never met or heard of McDonald. She said her son’s cellphone was never found after his death.

Liddell’s childhood friend and college roommate, Ceequan King, testified that Liddell recreationally smoked marijuana.

“He smoked, but he wasn’t a dope boy. I never saw him buy or sell in large quantities,” King said.

On the night of the shooting, King spoke to police and said he knew of McDonald, who wasn’t a student at the school.

“I told them I knew of him [McDonald]. I had one previous encounter with him. I didn’t know Ant [Liddell] had any dealings with him,” King said.

Stephon Mclain, 24, also is charged with murder in Liddell’s killing as well as a separate murder charge from a 2012 homicide. Officials said Mclain will be prosecuted at a later date.

Mclain was served with a murder warrant in Liddell’s killing on March 8, 2013, after he was arrested in Mansfield, Ohio, Truss said.

Will Lynch, an officer with the Drug Enforcement Unit, testified he retrieved the information on McDonald’s phone and it showed multiple text messages and phone calls between McDonald, Mclain and Liddell the day before and the day of the shooting.

In one message Liddell texted McDonald that “Grand Daddy Purp on deck” and it meant that Liddell had a higher grade of marijuana, Lynch said.

McDonald wanted to know the cost for it, and Liddell replied in a message that he would sell him some for a discount of $400, Lynch said reading the messages. The men agreed to meet in the university apartment complex parking lot for the exchange.

Edward Proctor, who performed the autopsy on Liddell, testified that the teen was shot three times, twice in the chest and once in the hip. His cause of death was from massive hemorrhaging caused by the chest gunshots.

Testimony resumes Thursday in Conway.

This story was originally published October 8, 2014 at 9:18 PM with the headline "Drugs, text messages highlighted in Coastal Carolina University murder trial."