PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) – The man who shot two 17-year-olds in 2020, killing one, was sentenced Monday, more than four years after the crime.
Marque A. Mills accepted an Alford Plea which means he says he is innocent, but agrees the Commonwealth’s Attorney has enough evidence to convict him.
Officers were called to the 1000 block of Cherokee Road the evening of March 1, 2020 and arrived to find a male teenager dead at the scene. Another 17-year-old who was shot survived.
Mills turned himself in to detectives a week after the crime. He was originally charged with second-degree murder, aggravated malicious wounding, and two counts of use of a firearm. As a part of the plea, one of the use of a firearm charges was dismissed by the Commonwealth’s Attorney and the aggravated malicious wounding was reduced to malicious wounding, a lesser charge.
The plea agreement obtained by WAVY News 10 stated Mills would not serve more than 15 years. However, court documents indicate Mills was sentenced to serve 23 years in jail. 10 On Your Side reached out to the Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney regarding this sentencing discrepancy. Antoinette Ramseur with the CA’s office explained that Mills would serve 15 of those years because some of the time runs concurrently, or at the same time. His time served will be followed by 10 years of supervised probation.
In January of this year, a judge rejected an earlier draft of the plea agreement because it stated Mills would only serve 14 years behind bars.
A lot comes to mind when viewing a situation like this. We have a person who is shot dead, and another who is shot in the head requiring multiple surgeries. This agreement says that this defendant can get no more than 14 years in the penitentiary. Portsmouth has the reputation — rightly or wrongly in some places — as being one of the most dangerous cities in the State of Virginia. I find this plea agreement outrageous. The Court emphatically and steadfastly rejects it. There can be no circumstances of where someone can shoot someone dead, and shoots another person in the head, and then come in here and claim I’m only going to do 14 years. Not going to happen . This Court is outraged that this would even be presented in this Court. It’s rejected.
Judge Kenneth Melvin, according to court documents.
Mills’ plea agreement included almost a dozen letters of support from friends and family, including his mom, dad, grandma, and employer.