Bond denied again for 16-year-old charged in Myrtle Beach man’s shooting death

For the second time in four months, a circuit court judge denied to set a bond for a 16-year-old girl charged with murder in the shooting death of a 21-year-old Myrtle Beach man, according to officials.

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 in Columbia, Circuit Court Judge Larry Hyman ruled Wednesday.

Jackson also appeared for a bond hearing on Dec. 9 and Judge George C. James Jr., also denied her request.

Jackson’s attorney can request another bond hearing in 90 days to see if she qualifies for bail, said Martin Spratlin, an assistant solicitor with the 15th Circuit prosecuting the case, on Thursday.

Jackson has been in the custody of DJJ in Columbia since her Nov. 11 arrest when Horry County police found her in the area of S.C. 319 behind Mt. Ariel Church cutting her hair to change her appearance, Spratlin said.

Prosecutors said Jackson should be denied bond because she avoided arrest for six days after the body of 21-year-old Dashadre Jacorey Sampson was found about 5 p.m. Nov. 5, and Horry County police publicly said they were searching for the teen.

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, 20, 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.

Bellamy was released on March 10 on $82,000 bail on the charges in Sampson’s death and an unrelated violation of probation, according to records at J. Reuben Long Detention Center.

Forti was released on $10,000 bail three days after his Nov. 12 arrest, while Woody was released the next day following her arrest, according to jail records.

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.

Horry County 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, authorities said.

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 during the December hearing.

In both hearings each judge deemed Jackson is a flight risk and her housing situation with family if she was released was not appropriate, they said.

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

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.

The same day of her December bond hearing, 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, officials said.

In the December hearing, officials said Jackson’s mother did not have custody of Jackson because of some requirements she had not completed with the S.C. Department of Social Services.

A Loris police officer, who was checking on his aunt’s abandoned home, found Sampson’s body in the 1000 block of Bennett Loop Road in the Loris area, and he had been shot multiple times, authorities said. Neighbors reported hearing gunshots about 3 a.m. Nov. 5.

Sampson’s family members said previously that he 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.

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 was 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.

This story was originally published April 24, 2015 at 11:08 AM with the headline "Bond denied again for 16-year-old charged in Myrtle Beach man’s shooting death."