8 years is sentence for fatal gunshots
Man pleads guilty in Texarkana case
TEXARKANA — A man charged with second-degree murder in a November 2015 drug-related shooting at a Texarkana apartment complex received an eight-year sentence for manslaughter Thursday as part of a plea bargain.
Rashod Rushing, 28, was visiting Apartment 102 of the Beacon Point complex in Texarkana when his friend, Trevon Staten, opened the door after a knock and a glance through the peephole. Several men wearing masks stormed in and opened fire. Rushing, who testified last month in Justin Johnson’s capital-murder trial, said he grabbed a gun and ran outside when the home invaders fled.
Rushing testified he found one of the masked men crawling on the ground outside, suffering from a gunshot wound caused by a bullet fired by one of his accomplices. Rushing fired two shots into Julian Bolton’s head, killing him instantly. At Johnson’s trial, a medical examiner testified Bolton probably wouldn’t have survived his abdominal wound even if Rushing had not fired two shots into Bolton’s head.
“I want to apologize to the family for taking the life of their loved one,” Rushing said Thursday in the second-floor courtroom of the Miller County courthouse at a hearing before Circuit Judge Carlton Jones.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell said she would pass Rushing’s sentiments along to Bolton’s family, who Mitchell said were aware of and approved of the plea arrangement finalized at Thursday’s hearing. It included Rushing’s plea to the manslaughter charge reduced from second-degree murder. Managing Public Defender Jason Mitchell, who is not related to Connie Mitchell, represented Rushing.
Johnson was acquitted of capital-murder and other charges by a Miller County jury last month, despite Rushing’s eyewitness testimony. Rushing may be the only person to serve time in connection with the Nov. 15, 2015, shooting.
Rushing also entered a plea of guilty Thursday to possessing contraband in the Miller County jail while awaiting disposition of his case. Rushing and Quin-tonious Levelt Parker, 34, were the only occupants of Max Delta cell 909 when detention deputies smelled a strong odor of marijuana, according to a probable-cause affidavit used to create the following account.
Officers allegedly discovered pieces of blue, black and white rubber gloves containing suspected methamphetamine, synthetic marijuana and marijuana. Also recovered from the men’s cell were rolling papers and a nail attached with string to a pencil authorities believe could have been used as a “stabbing weapon,” the affidavit states.
Rushing received an eightyear term of probation for the contraband which will run concurrently to his prison time on the manslaughter charge. Rushing received credit toward his prison sentence for 539 days he spent in jail waiting for resolution of his case.