Teenagers In Deadly Robbery Won’t Get A New Trial

The teenagers that shot and killed a Summerville convenience store clerk will not get a new trial to fight their life sentences, according to Chattooga County Superior Court records.
A jury found Zaykives Banard McCray and Dylon Dave Allen guilty on all counts of killing Chiragkumar Patel during a January 2016 robbery at the Melanie Inn Convenience Store.
The two immediately filed a motion for a new trial in March 2017. Public Defender Jad B. Johnson filed the initial retrial motion.
Then attorney Karen H. Brouse, of Blue Ridge, filed an appeal on McCray’s behalf earlier in December.
“The court in completing the final disposition form indicates that the time imposed upon the defendant is life plus 40 years. This is incorrect. A review of each of the components of the sentence imposed shows that the total imposed on the defendant was life plus 50 years. Wherefore, the defendant argues that this error requires the sentence be nune pro tune and that he be resentenced,” according to the appeal.
Judge Kristina Cook Graham considered and then denied the motion on Dec. 27.

The judge, however, did amend or corrected their original sentence.  Their sentence was recalculated to life in prison plus 15 years.
McCray’s new sentence does not list him as a recidivist, according to court records.
Judge  Graham, the original presiding judge over the trial, said, “The acts, in this case, were incredibly violent.”
The judge described listening to the testimony of the murder as “depressing.” She said it was sad that the teenagers not only killed someone, but they have wasted their lives.
Both teenagers were given a chance to persuade the judge to give a lenient sentence. While no one showed up to support McCray, the other teenager had three witnesses to testify why he shouldn’t get life without the possibility of parole.
Not even McCray’s mother got up. However, Allen’s mother told Judge Graham that the robbery and murder was not typical for him.
When McCray and Dylon were sentenced, they showed no remorse or other emotion.
In fact, during a lunch break one day, McCray turned toward a newspaper cameraman and made an obscene gesture with both middle fingers. This all occurred just outside the courthouse.
The victim in this case was 46 years old. He did not die immediately after being shot once in the stomach. He struggled for 50 days and finally died in a Floyd County hospital.