A Rock Hill teenager has been sentenced to 12 years in a South Carolina prison after pleading guilty to the 2021 fatal shooting of another teen.
Frederick Floyd Jr., 17, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in York County General Sessions court Monday afternoon. He initially faced murder charges in juvenile court, according to the judge and public court records.
However, the case was moved to adult court. Floyd, who was 15 years old at the time of the shooting, received a negotiated 12-years sentence, Judge Eugene Griffith said in court Monday.
Matthew Robertson, 16, died in July 2021 after being shot while in his vehicle in a parking lot of the Pilgrims’ Inn on West Main Street in Rock Hill, 16th Circuit Senior Assistant Solicitor Erin Joyner said in court.
Why was he prosecuted as an adult?
Floyd, his lawyers, prosecutors, and a family court judge agreed to have the case moved from Family Court, according to court documents and statements Monday in court.
Joyner said in court that justice could best be served if Floyd was prosecuted as an adult because of the severity of the crime, which involved a shooting death.
A sentence in family court as a juvenile would be as little as three years in prison, and by law the family court sentence would end when Floyd turns 22, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors had sought in an earlier hearing to move Floyd’s case to adult court, according to court documents. However, Floyd and his lawyers agreed to the move before a family court judge could rule on the prosecutor’s request, court documents show.
“The Court further finds that this defendant shall be treated as an adult from this point forward,” a family court judge’s order in the case states.
A targeted victim for robbery
Joyner said in court that Floyd and the victim knew each other. Joyner said Floyd targeted Robertson for a robbery.
Rock Hill Police Department officers at the shooting scene tried to save Robertson’s life, but he died of a gunshot wound to the chest, Joyner said in court.
Police and prosecutors had surveillance video from the parking lot west of downtown Rock Hill that showed some of the mid-afternoon incident, Joyner said.
Floyd was identified by Rock Hill police and arrested the day after the shooting, according to Joyner and court records.
Victim’s mother speaks in court
Amanda Robertson, the mother of the victim, read a statement to Griffith Monday in court that described the shooting as “the most awful act a human can commit.”
Pictures of Matthew Robertson showing his life before he was killed were mounted on poster board and shown to the judge.
“Matthew’s entire future, as well as ours with him was taken, for nothing,” Amanda Robertson read from her statement.
Amanda Robertson provided The Herald a copy of the statement she read in court.
“I lost life’s most precious gift, my child, my firstborn son, Matthew Hartman Robertson,” Amanda Robertson said in her statement in court.
Defendant made very poor decision
Floyd did not speak in court Monday other than to say he had agreed to be prosecuted as an adult and that he was pleading guilty.
He was represented by two lawyers from the 16th Circuit Public Defender’s Office. One of the lawyers said Floyd’s family attended court Monday, but the family did not wish to speak.
Deputy Public Defender Melissa Inzerillo, said Floyd had been in an alternative program at Rock Hill schools before the incident and had a previous juvenile record, but the record did not include acts of violence.
“He made a very poor decision,” Inzerillo said.
What happens now?
Griffith accepted the negotiated plea agreement of 12 years for voluntary manslaughter.
Floyd will receive credit for 595 days he has been in custody since arrest, according to the judge. He must serve at least 85 percent of the 12-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter because the conviction is not parole eligible, Judge Griffith said.
Floyd will serve his sentence as an adult in the S.C. Department of Corrections, Griffith said.