Suspect in SC rapper 18Veno death refused plea offer, lawyer says in murder trial
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\A Rock Hill man on trial for the murder of a South Carolina rapper killed during a drug deal rejected a plea offer, his lawyer said in York County court Wednesday.
Christopher LaMont McCollough, 23, has pleaded not guilty in the death of rapper Paul Harts, 18, whose stage name was 18veno. The trial started Tuesday.
Prosecutors offered McCollough a guilty plea deal to a lesser charge with a maximum of 15 years in prison, but he rejected the plea offer, his lawyer, Monier Abusaft, said in court Wednesday to Judge G.D. Morgan Jr. outside the presence of the jury. Abusaft said he counter-offered a plea for a lesser amount of years, but prosecutors rejected it.
A conviction for murder in South Carolina carries a mandatory sentence of 30 years to life in prison.
The case
Harts of Winnsboro in Fairfield County near Columbia, was killed Jan. 23, 2021, outside the Rock Hill city limits on McShea Drive.
Harts made several rap YouTube and social media videos with hundreds of thousands of views before he was killed. Online videos and pictures show Harts posing with money and weapons.
Harts was in Rock Hill to sell marijuana to McCollough the night he was killed, both prosecutors and defense lawyers said in court. Police found about $4,000 in cash, drugs, bullets and spent shell casings in the car after Harts was killed, testimony showed Wednesday.
McCollough, in the back seat, was attempting to rob Harts when Harts was shot and killed, Prosecutor Matthew Hogge said in court.
However, Abusaft said in court that Harts and co-defendant Khalil Robinson were trying to rob McCollough during the drug deal.
McCollough also was shot in the incident. But he drove to Columbia and said he was wounded in Chester in a different incident, Hogge said.
Dispute over shots fired
Wednesday’s trial included hours of testimony about the weapons and bullets seized in the case. Harts had two bullets from two weapons in his body when he was killed, prosecutors Hogge and Chris Epting said in court.
Three people were in the car. Harts was in the driver’s seat, Robinson was in the passenger seat and McCollough was in the back seat, according to court testimony.
The bullet holes in the car showed shots were fired from the back seat toward the front seat, York County forensic supervisor George Weeks testified Wednesday.
But Abusaft said there were holes in the car that showed bullets exited in the rear. He said the exit holes don’t tell the story.
“You are testifying about holes in the car, not holes in people,” Abusaft said.
Co-defendant claims McCollough pulled gun
Rock Hill police detective Phill Tripp testified that Robinson told him the person in the backseat, McCollough, shot Harts.
Robinson, 21, a friend of Harts’ from Winnsboro, was at Piedmont Medical Center Jan. 23, 2021, where he drove Harts after the shooting, Tripp’s bodycam video showed.
The video also showed Harts’ body inside the car.
Robinson did not tell police initially that he had a gun and also fired a shot that hit Harts in the head, Abusaft argued. Abusaft told jurors when the trial started Tuesday that it was a bullet from Robinson’s gun that was the fatal shot.
Robinson is charged with manslaughter. He is expected to testify later in the trial.
This story was originally published February 23, 2022 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Suspect in SC rapper 18Veno death refused plea offer, lawyer says in murder trial."
