CONWAY, S.C. (WBTW) — A South Carolina man sentenced to life in prison for the 2018 killing of a person who refused to join a gang wants a new trial, claiming poor legal representation the first time played into his conviction.
Tyshawn Brown on Thursday filed a post-conviction relief petition in Horry County Common Pleas Court, requesting a jury trial on grounds of “prosecutorial misconduct” and “ineffective assistance of trial counsel.”
The state Court of Appeals dismissed Brown’s claims on July 24.
Brown, 30, was found guilty in August 2022 in the death of Charles Edward Durant II, who was shot to death on April 24, 2018 in Loris.
Authorities said a vehicle pulled up at the corner of Church and Spring streets and that shots were fired at a truck in which Durant and his girlfriend were riding. Durant’s girlfriend was also hurt in the shooting.
Solicitor Jimmy Richardson said that Brown shot Durant because Durant refused to be part of the Blood street gang, which Brown belonged to.
Brown’s accomplice, Heath Reaves Jr., was arrested in May 2018 by U.S. marshals in Philadelphia, while Brown was not taken into custody until Feb. 2020.
Brown in his appeal alleges that attorneys failed to inform him in writing that prosecutors planned to seek a punishment of life without parole.
“Applicant probably would have accepted a plea bargain instead of going to trial,” his petition says. Brown said a lack of physical evidence and a reliance on witness statements that ended deprived him of due process protections.
