A Plymouth man is facing three criminal charges after authorities say he pointed a black-and-silver handgun at a witness and threatened to hurt that person if they showed up to testify in Washington County Superior Court. Keshawn Davon Blount was booked into custody in Beaufort County on September 1, roughly two weeks after an arrest warrant was issued against him on August 13. He now faces felony witness intimidation, felony possession of a firearm by a felon, and misdemeanor assault by pointing a gun.
According to the arrest warrant, the confrontation happened back on June 20 in Plymouth, when Blount allegedly pointed the handgun at the witness and threatened to harm the person if they appeared in Washington County Superior Court, as first reported by WCTI. The warrant also states that Blount had a prior felony conviction for attempted possession of a firearm by a felon, a detail prosecutors can use to establish the prior-felony element required for the firearm charge under North Carolina General Statutes § 14-415.1.
What the Charges Actually Mean
Witness intimidation under North Carolina law covers anyone who threatens or menaces a person summoned to testify in court, and it's classified as a Class G felony, according to FindLaw's breakdown of N.C.G.S. § 14-226. The felon-in-possession charge carries a maximum potential sentence of 47 months in prison under state sentencing guidelines, per the Jetton & Meredith law firm, though the actual sentence would depend heavily on Blount's prior record level. The misdemeanor assault charge, meanwhile, applies whenever someone intentionally points a gun at another person — loaded or not — and is punishable by up to 150 days in custody as a Class A1 misdemeanor, the most serious misdemeanor tier under state law.
Notably, prosecutors don't necessarily need to prove Blount had the gun in his hand at every moment. North Carolina precedent allows conviction based on constructive possession, meaning a defendant can be found guilty of illegal firearm possession if evidence shows they had the power and intent to control the weapon, according to the Carolina Attorneys law firm.
Why Prosecutors Take Witness Threats Seriously
Legal analysts at the UNC School of Government note that witness intimidation charges are treated as a critical corollary offense, since threats against witnesses strike directly at the integrity of the judicial system itself. That's part of why such threats often trigger separate felony indictments layered on top of whatever underlying case the witness was set to testify about — though the dossier does not specify what that original proceeding involved.
It also remains an open question whether Blount's criminal history could push prosecutors toward a habitual felon enhancement. Under North Carolina's Habitual Felon Act, a defendant with three prior non-overlapping felony convictions can be indicted as a habitual felon, which would elevate a Class G felony charge by four classes, turning it into a Class C felony carrying substantially longer active prison time. Hoodline previously reported on a similar case involving felony witness intimidation charges elsewhere in North Carolina.
The Local Court System Handling the Case
Washington County Superior Court sits at the historic courthouse at 120 Adams Street in Plymouth, the county seat. The county falls within North Carolina's 2nd Judicial District and 2nd Prosecutorial District, a five-county region that also covers Beaufort, Hyde, Martin, and Tyrrell counties. In July, Governor Josh Stein appointed Plymouth native and former county commissioner D. Cole Phelps as a District Court judge for the district, according to the Albemarle Observer, making him the first Washington County native on the District Court bench in decades.
Plymouth has seen a string of violent crime cases in recent weeks. Earlier in August, Hoodline reported on a father killed shielding his baby from gunfire, and on a separate case involving an underage suspect charged in the killing of teenager Cameron Sanders. It is not clear from available records whether Blount's case is connected to either of those matters.
