In the early hours of a summer morning in Greenville, South Carolina, the life of 18-year-old Tymeir Milak Wharton was tragically cut short. On June 11, 2016, the young man was fatally shot on a street within the city. Another teenager, a 14-year-old named William Smith, was also wounded in the same incident but survived. At the time of his death, Wharton was a student in the 11th grade at Carolina High School and was also employed at a local McDonald's.
Following an investigation into
the shooting, authorities identified Delamonta Dobbs, who was 16 years old at the time of the incident, as the suspect. Dobbs, a resident of Greenville, was subsequently arrested and charged in connection with the death of Wharton and the injury to Smith. Due to the severity of the alleged crimes, the decision was made to prosecute Dobbs as an adult.
In August of 2017, the legal proceedings against Delamonta Dobbs, then 17, concluded. He entered an Alford plea to charges of voluntary manslaughter and attempted murder. This type of plea signifies that while the defendant does not admit guilt, they acknowledge that the prosecution has sufficient evidence to likely secure a conviction at trial. Following his plea, Dobbs was sentenced to serve 15 years in adult prison. The terms of his sentence stipulate that he must serve a minimum of 85 percent of that time.
