Bond denied for 16-year-old charged as an adult with murder in 21-year-old Myrtle Beach man’s slaying

A circuit court judge deemed a 16-year-old girl was a flight risk and denied her request for bond Tuesday on a charge of murder in the shooting death of a 21-year-old Myrtle Beach man.

Emericka Shirlene Jackson, 16, of Loris is charged with murder as an adult and will remain in the custody of the S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice, Circuit Court Judge George C. James Jr. ruled during Tuesday’s hearing.

But Jackson’s attorney, Eric Fox, can file a motion for bond to be considered again in 100 days, James said.

“I don’t have confidence that if I place her with her mother she won’t be gone immediately,” James said while issuing his ruling to deny bond. “She is a substantial flight risk.”

Jackson has been in the custody of DJJ in Columbia since her arrest on Nov. 11 when Horry County police found her in the area of S.C. 319 behind Mt. Ariel Church cutting her hair to change her appearance, said Martin Spratlin, an assistant solicitor with the 15th Circuit, who is prosecuting the case.

Spratlin asked that bond not be set for Jackson because she avoided arrest for six days after the body of 21-year-old Dashadre Jacorey Sampson was found and police publically said they were searching for the teen.

Jackson also has run away from group homes or foster care three times before the crime and was listed as a runaway when she was arrested, Spratlin said.

“She has repeatedly ran away from authorities,” Spratlin said.

On Tuesday, a Family Court Judge ordered Jackson to serve 90 days at DJJ because she had fled her foster care home where she was living before Sampson’s death, Fox said.

But Fox disputed that Jackson purposely eluded police and asked for a reasonable bond to be set.

“I think she was in plain sight more or less,” Fox said.

Also during the hearing, Fox asked that Jackson be released to her mother’s care, but Spratlin said the teen’s mother had not completed a treatment plan as ordered by the S.C. Department of Social Services to have custody of her daughter.

Jackson’s mother, Shawna Jackson, told James that she is working to reunite her family and hopes that includes the teen.

Before the teen was placed in foster care she had lived with her father, authorities said.

Sampson’s mother and father along with their family pastor, Kylon Middleton, attended Tuesday’s hearing. Middleton spoke on the family’s behalf and read a statement from Sampson’s mother, Jermaine Sampson Seward.

“I did not realize Nov. 4 would be the last day I would talk with him,” Middleton said reading Seward’s statement. “I miss him everyday. He was my child regardless of everything else. I miss our talks, his calls to check on me daily.”

“Imagine the loss of a child, an only child and see how I feel,” Middleton said reading the statement. “One of the greatest gifts is the life of a child . . . my only child was taken from me.”

Middleton also told James that Sampson was actively involved in his church and finishing his education. Sampson was a 2010 Carolina Forest High School graduate and was attending Coastal Carolina University where he majored in economics and minored in biology, Middleton said.

A Loris police officer found Sampson’s body about 5 p.m. Nov. 5 at an abandoned home in the 1000 block of Bennett Loop Road in the Loris area, and he had been shot multiple times, authorities said.

Spratlin said the officer was checking on his aunt’s abandoned home, which he did often, and found the body. Neighbors reported hearing gunshots about 3 a.m. that morning.

Two other teens, Michael Xavier Forti, 18, and Brittany Jean Woody, 19, both of Loris, were each charged with obstructing justice in connection with helping Jackson and Deterris Marquiz Nequa Bellamy, 19, of Loris elude police after Sampson’s death.

The pair are accused of providing shelter and transportation to Jackson and Bellamy, who also is charged with murder and accessory after the fact in Sampson’s death, according to affidavits.

Spratlin said police obtained Facebook postings from Jackson’s account that showed she and Sampson had exchanged messages and agreed to meet in the Loris area to have sex.

But Jackson and Bellamy had planned to rob Sampson instead, and during the robbery Sampson was shot and killed, Spratlin said.

“This was clearly a setup,” Spratlin said and noted police are investigating for other similar robbery victims of Jackson and Bellamy.

Sampson was on probation for a charge of criminal solicitation of a minor, according to state probation records. His probation began Aug. 14 and was set to end on Aug. 11, 2017.

Sampson is a registered sex offender in Horry County, convicted of two counts of solicitation of a minor in August 2014, according to the Horry County sex offender database. The victims are listed as 13- and 15-year-old girls.

Bellamy also is held on a charge of violating his probation, according to jail records.

According to the S.C. Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Service, Bellamy began serving a year of probation on May 6 on a charge of first-degree assault and battery.

Horry County court records showed that Bellamy pleaded guilty May 6 to the charge before Circuit Court Judge Steven John, who sentenced him under the Youthful Offender Act to a period not to exceed five years, but that was suspended to a year of probation.

As part of the plea, charges of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and first-degree attempted criminal sexual conduct with a minor were dismissed, according to court records. Bellamy was arrested on those charges on Aug. 17, 2012.

A records check with the State Law Enforcement Division showed the other three teens did not have prior criminal arrests as adults.

This story was originally published December 9, 2014 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Bond denied for 16-year-old charged as an adult with murder in 21-year-old Myrtle Beach man’s slaying."