York County prosecutors will seek another life sentence in an August trial against a Rock Hill felon already serving life from a 2019 violent crime spree that left one woman dead and five other people injured.
Marques Quantez Heath, 40, is accused of of shooting three women, including one who died, and bludgeoning three other people with a hammer on Feb. 12, 2019. The daytime violence at two different scenes in 2019 caused school lockdowns, a two-state manhunt and crossed state lines from Rock Hill to Charlotte before Heath was caught in North Carolina.
Heath faces murder, attempted murder, burglary, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, and kidnapping charges from the 2019 incident, according to court records and 16th Circuit Deputy Solicitor Chris Epting.
Prosecutors brought Heath to court Wednesday at the Moss Justice Center in York to formally serve notice against him that any conviction for those charges in the trial next month would result in a mandatory second life sentence.
Heath is already serving a life sentence without parole in a South Carolina prison for December 2019 convictions for dealing drugs and illegal weapon possession in Rock Hill. Those convictions were from a 2018 arrest.
He also is accused of using a shank to stab his cellmate to death at a Columbia prison last year, according to arrest warrants released in March by the S.C. Department of Corrections. That case is separate and still pending.
The 2019 violence
Shanijela Shamichael Williams, 20, died at a Leach Road home in 2019 after Heath allegedly shot her, according to officials and court documents. The area is west of Rock Hill off S.C. 5.
Heath also allegedly shot Bethany Farrar, who was pregnant, at the house on Leach Road.
Heath assaulted three others at the house, York County Sheriff’s Office deputies said.
Then after fleeing Leach Road, Heath allegedly shot Laquata Wilson at house on Farlow Street miles away near Cherry Road and Interstate 77, according to prosecutors and court records.
Heath was free on bail from an early 2019 domestic violence arrest and the 2018 drug and weapons case at the time of the Feb. 12 2019 attacks, records show.
Prosecutors bring up Heath’s criminal history
Heath has eight previous felony convictions dating back to 2004, according to court documents filed by prosecutors in the notice to seek life without parole.
The document states:
— In 2004, Heath was convicted of burglary and trafficking crack cocaine, according to prosecutors.
— In 2006, he was convicted of three drug distribution charges involving crack cocaine and marijuana. He was sentenced to nine years, records show.
— In 2019, Heath was convicted of three drug charges in the case where he had a stolen military assault rifle. He was sentenced to life without parole.
Because of those convictions, another conviction for murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature or burglary means an automatic life sentence, Epting said in court.
Heath:”Not guilty”
Heath pleaded “not guilty” Wednesday in court. He told Judge Dan Hall he wanted to be judged “by God and my country.”
He has not been convicted of any crime in connection to the February 2019 crime spree.
Heath’s lawyer, York County Public Defender B.J. Barrowclough, said after court: “We are working diligently to prepare for trial.”
The surviving victims from the 2019 shootings and assaults were not in court Wednesday.
What happens now?
Heath’s trial for the 2019 charges is scheduled for the week of Aug. 12, according to court documents and statements made in court Wednesday.
The murder charge where he is accused of killing the other prisoner at Broad River Correctional Institute on Nov. 7, 2023, also remains pending, according to Richland County online court records.
The February 2019 York County murder case and the Richland County murder case are separate.
___
(c) 2024 The Herald
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
