LYNCHBURG, VA – Over two years after his 12-year-old sister, Malaysia Solomon, was shot and killed inside their home, 17-year-old Marquel Solomon stood before a judge and took a plea deal.
“It’s important to remember that this was a criminally negligent homicide,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Bethany Harrison said.
Harrison says this case was never about intent but about accountability.
“Because of the way Marquel was handling a firearm, treating a firearm like a toy, there was a reasonable foreseeability with his reckless conduct that someone could be shot and killed, and sadly, that’s what happened here,” Harrison said.
The plea comes after his first trial ended in a mistrial back in August, when a jury couldn’t reach a unanimous decision.
“We ended up with a hung jury, which means that we have to try the case again. So that also played into the decision to reach a plea agreement of not knowing if we would have another jury which would be able to make a decision or not,” she said.
Solomon was sentenced to five years, with three years and three months suspended.
He’s set to serve a year and nine months, but may be released early, thanks to time served and good behavior.
“He was tried as an adult. We expect him to be released around his 18th birthday, which will be September of this year, where he will be on adult supervised probation and subject to five years of good behavior,” Harrison said.
Solomon’s mother, Karita Winston, was sentenced in April for two felony counts of child abuse.
She is currently serving two years — one count involves serious injury, and the other for reckless disregard for human life.
“For setting up the circumstances that resulted in her daughter’s death and put her son into this situation. People need to have their firearms secured, locked up,” Harrison said.
The Commonwealth also briefly reviewed the evidence, all of which was presented at the initial trial in August.
This included video footage of Marquel Solomon dancing around with the firearm that later killed Malaysia on the night it occurred.
“He treated a gun like a toy, and it’s not a toy, it’s a deadly weapon,” Harrison said.
Solomon’s attorney declined to comment.