Two murder charges against a North Charleston man spanning nearly three years have been wiped off the books, after he pleaded guilty this week to accessory after the fact, alongside a guilty plea to a drug-distribution law violation in the 2022 case. Deandre Dewayne Broughton, 22, entered the accessory plea on Monday, closing out cases tied to the deaths of three young men between 2022 and 2023.
According to the Post and Courier, both murder charges and a weapons-possession charge against Broughton were dismissed as a direct result of the Monday plea. He was sentenced to eight years in prison, though that term is reduced by nearly three years he had already spent in custody awaiting trial.
South Carolina classifies accessory after the fact to murder as a Class D felony. State law says the offense is punished at the Class D level when the underlying crime is murder, and the South Carolina Judicial Branch’s offense code lists it under Section 16-1-55. The plea is therefore legally distinct from a murder conviction; the classification alone does not explain how prosecutors assessed the evidence or establish Broughton’s role in either killing.
A Bailey Drive Shooting That Left Two Teens Dead
The killings also came amid a year in which Charleston County recorded nine homicides among children, defined in the coroner’s report as people up to age 17; seven of those children had gunshot wounds. The county’s 2022 Coroner’s Office annual report gives the group a median age of 16. Those figures provide local context for Jones’ death, but do not establish a trend beyond that single year or connect other cases to these killings.
The first case traces back to April 24, 2022, when 16-year-old Kay’Sean Jones and 19-year-old Elijah Jefferson both died following a shooting at a home on Bailey Drive. A doorbell surveillance camera captured Broughton and a group outside the home that day, the newspaper's report notes. The newspaper reported that a man attempted to rob Jones after briefly speaking with Broughton; Broughton’s attorney, Bentley Price, said the man and Jones both pulled guns and were shot before Jones and Jefferson died.
Broughton was in Charleston County jail when he was charged in Jones’ death. He was formally indicted for murder in February 2024 in connection with that case. Separately, 18-year-old Rito Remerio Singleton Jr. was arrested and charged with murder several weeks after the killings, and the report states that his case remains pending. Investigators contended that Singleton and Jefferson had conspired to rob Jones, and the article notes that cellphone records allegedly show the two communicated that night.
Attorney Says Footage Clears His Client of Killing
Broughton’s attorney, Bentley Price — described in the report as a former prosecutor and judge — told the Post and Courier that around two minutes of video footage clearly showed Broughton had not killed Jones. Price contended that Broughton left without his passenger after the shooting and was seen on video grabbing marijuana from one of the wounded males, but Price maintains the footage does not show Broughton firing the fatal shots. The dossier underlying that claim does not include independent access to the footage, so Price’s characterization could not be verified beyond his statement to the paper.
Price also said the assistant solicitor recognized she could not prosecute the cases and that the outcome was right, according to the same report. Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson had not responded to a request for comment by the time of publication, the newspaper notes.
A Second Killing, a Crashed Jeep and Three Phones
The second case stems from the death of 22-year-old Deyonis Green-Wyatt — though an earlier Post and Courier report on Broughton's arrest spelled the name D’Ynois Green-Wyatt, a discrepancy that remains between the two accounts. Broughton was reportedly driving a red Jeep Grand Cherokee on Cosgrove Avenue near Interstate 26 on Oct. 21, 2023, per the arrest warrant affidavit cited in the report. North Charleston detectives tracked the Jeep using surveillance video, and police attempted to stop the vehicle a few hours after the shooting, at which point its driver crashed and fled the scene on foot, according to the affidavit. Police located Broughton around a month after the shooting.
Police found three cellphones inside the Jeep, one of which belonged to Broughton, per the warrant affidavit referenced in the report. Price contends that Broughton’s passenger got out of the vehicle and fought with Green-Wyatt before Green-Wyatt was shot. Broughton was arrested and charged with murder in the case on Nov. 17, 2023.
Why the Lesser Charge Fit
The distinction turns on what happened after a felony, not simply on whether someone was present when it occurred. The South Carolina Court of Appeals’ description of the offense says it requires a completed felony, knowledge that the principal committed it, and harboring or assisting that person to help them avoid detection or arrest. That legal definition gives context to the lesser plea, but does not independently resolve the disputed account of what Broughton did.
A status change form cited in the report states that Broughton’s plea to accessory after the fact to murder better fit the facts of the 2023 case. In the 2022 case, Broughton also pleaded guilty to a drug-distribution law violation, according to a court filing referenced in the report. With the plea entered, the cases against Broughton were closed. The article was authored by Caitlin Bell, the Post and Courier's quick response and public safety reporter.
