11 plead guilty in Columbia man’s death
Eleven juveniles have pleaded guilty to beating a Columbia man who was found dead in April, The State reported.
De’Bron Aldrick Harrison, 20, was found bloody on the ground outside Allen Temple Church on April 20, according to police. All 11 pleaded guilty to second–degree assault on Sept. 19. The pleas were reported Wednesday.
The juveniles will remain committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice until they are 21. The department will decide when they are released, but Marcia Baker of the 13th Circuit Solicitor’s Office said that office “does not anticipate it will happen any time soon.”
Harrison died at Greenville Memorial Hospital of blunt force trauma to the head on April 26. He was on life support for the six days after he was found.
Harrison had broken up a fight at a birthday party shortly before being beaten by a large group of people.
High school quarterback facing drug charges
A South Pointe High School quarterback was charged with selling drugs at school Tuesday afternoon, the Rock Hill Herald reported. Wednesday morning, his bond was set at $30,000 — $5,000 for each of the six marijuana possession and distribution charges he’s facing.
Davonta Blake is facing four charges of distribution and two of possession after police recovered 2.4 grams of marijuana at South Pointe High School and 3.4 grams at his Rock Hill home.
Police were tipped off by school administrators shortly before the Tuesday arrest. When school officials searched Blake, they found a large prescription bottle containing seven individually wrapped packages of marijuana, according to Executive Officer Mark Bollinger of the Rock Hill Police Department. Police came after the school’s resource officer was alerted.
Police later found a mason jar with 12 baggies of marijuana in Blake’s bedroom, Bollinger said.
More arrests are pending, but no additional charges have been filed, police said.
Salary raise approved for city’s next mayor
Should the strong mayor ballot initiative succeed, the mayor would make $160,000 a year, The State reported. The pay would be reduced if the mayor took a second job.
Regardless of the initiative’s success, the mayoral candidate elected this November will receive the first raise in more than 20 years to $75,000.
The increase in pay would go into effect on July 1, 2014. The council’s first vote on the pay package was unanimous and a second and final vote is likely at the next city council meeting. The full potential package for a strong mayor will likely be decided at that meeting as well.
Mayor Steve Benjamin and Councilman Moe Baddourah, who is challenging the mayor, have excused themselves from the discussions of mayoral compensation packages.
Currently, the mayor of Columbia receives a salary of $17,500. The pay has not been increased since the first term of former mayor Bob Coble, who refused raises throughout his five terms.