Gamar Mallett, 19, pleaded guilty on an aggravated assault charge in an Oct. 3 drive-by shooting incident in Attala County Circuit Court this week.
According to police at the time of the incident, two groups of individuals exchanged at least 12 rounds of gunfire at the intersection of Bachman Street and Martin Luther King Drive around 8:40 p.m. on Tuesday, October 3.
Officers on duty at the police station responded after hearing the gunfire, but were aided in finding the specific location by an individual who lives in a home near the intersection who called to report the incident.
“There had been a confrontation at McDonald’s,” said Police Chief Hebert Dew after four arrests were made in the case in October. “One group left on foot, the other in a car. The group in the car made it a block, pulled up at an intersection and the subject (Mallett) got out of the car and opened fire on the group that was walking.”
t least one member of the group of four on foot returned fire toward the three individuals who had been in the vehicle.
Mallett was originally charged with the drive-by shooting, but police added the possession of a weapon by a felon charge after learning that Mallett had been sentenced to five years’ probation for possession of a stolen weapon in Montgomery County on Sept. 28.
As a result of the plea, the state agreed to drop the second count of the indictment, a charge of possession of a firearm by a felon. The District Attorney’s Office recommended a 10-year sentence, with five served and the remainder under supervised release.
Javonta Sandifer, 17, of Kosciusko, was allegedly one of the two other individuals in the vehicle with Mallett. He is also charged with aggravated assault in the same incident and is scheduled to appear in court on March 19.
In other cases:
Jerry Allen Chunn, 30, pleaded guilty to touching a child for lustful purposes and the state recommended a five-year sentence. If Loper accepts the agreement, Chunn will serve two years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He will also be required to register as a sex offender. Chunn will return to court March 19 when sentence will be imposed.
Timothy Bray, 29, pleaded guilty to a statutory rape charge. Judge Loper accepted the state’s recommended sentence of seven years. He will serve two years followed by five years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender within three days of his release from custody.
Christopher Moore, 24, pleaded guilty to simple assault rather than face the greater charge of armed robbery related to a June 16, 2017, incident in which he and two others, Lecordarro K. Moore and Danielle Nicole Forrest, allegedly took property from a fourth individual. Loper accepted a plea agreement causing Christopher Moore to serve 15 years, 10 in MDOC custody, followed by five years of supervised release. The plea means Moore avoids a potential life sentence on the original armed robbery charge.
immy Dwight Boykin, 49, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a felon. As part of the plea agreement, the state agreed to not prosecute him on methamphetamine sales charges in Choctaw County and methamphetamine possession charges in Attala County. Also, if the state pursues pending methamphetamine possession charges in Montgomery County and he is convicted on them, any sentence would be served concurrently with the sentence on these charges. The state recommended a sentence of eight years.
