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Thread: Derrick Best Sentenced to 11 to 15 Years in 2011 NC Slaying of Princess King

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Derrick Best Sentenced to 11 to 15 Years in 2011 NC Slaying of Princess King


    Princess King, 3




    Suspect in Goldsboro girls murder arrested

    The man charged with first degree murder in the death of a three-year-old Goldsboro girl made his first court appearance Thursday afternoon in Wayne County.

    Authorities caught Derrick Best Wednesday night in Greenville after receiving a tip through America’s Most Wanted.

    Police were looking for Best since the Feb. 27 shooting of Princess King at her apartment complex. They said Best was shooting toward someone with whom he was fighting when a bullet hit King.

    Best’s family and King’s family filled the courtroom. The judge ordered everyone who entered the court to go through a security check at the door.

    Each family entered and left separately as more than a dozen officers stood by.

    "It was a whole lot of tension by his family being there and us being there to support my niece because she wasn't but three,” said Christal Pixley, King’s aunt.

    The judge listed Best’s charges, including outstanding warrants for separate crimes that included kidnapping and assault by strangulation, among others.

    "I don't even know why he was still wandering the grounds anyway,” Pixley said.

    Family members on both sides expressed relief that Best is in custody.

    "Hoping they would catch him, nobody was going to get hurt by him. Now I feel good that he's safe behind bars and stuff. So I do feel better,” said Charles Best, the suspect’s father.

    “If he was a real man, he would have stayed. He ran for two weeks. So I really want them to take it to the extent with him,” Pixley said.

    Best remains in jail without bond. He could face the death penalty if convicted of first degree murder. His next court date is scheduled for April 6.

    http://www2.nbc17.com/news/2011/mar/...ree-ar-868947/

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    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    December 19, 2014

    GOLDSBORO FAMILY DEMANDS JUSTICE IN 2011 KILLING OF 3-YEAR-OLD GIRL


    GOLDSBORO, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Goldsboro family is calling for justice in the death of a 3-year-old girl.

    The child was killed by a stray bullet more than three-and-a-half years ago, while playing on the playground at her Goldsboro apartment complex.

    On Thursday, Princess King would have turned 7 years old, and her family and friends remembered her with a balloon launch -- saying they are sending a message to her in heaven.

    However, the family is still waiting for the trial for her accused killer.

    The little girl's mother says she wants to get on with her life but feels she can't until her daughter's killer is tried.

    Derrick Best was immediately identified as a suspect and was jailed not long after the killing, but he has yet to go to trial.

    King's mother says prosecutors are telling her they can't do much about the delays.

    "They're saying he's firing his lawyers. That will keep making the case have to get continued. And by that, when he gets a new lawyer, he has to present all the evidence to this lawyer. So that's another delay, you know. It's like, how many more times can he fire his lawyer," said Rennetta McLamb, King's mother. "Feb. 27 it will be four years and it, it's like my life is on hold. I, I sleep but I don't sleep."

    ABC11 reached out to Wayne County's district attorney about the delays, but he didn't immediately respond.

    http://abc11.com/news/family-demands...r-old-/442261/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
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    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
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  4. #4
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    September 4, 2015

    Suspect pleads in child's shooting

    More than four years after firing the stray bullet that claimed the life of 3-year-old Princess Shelby King, her killer pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Wayne County Superior Court Thursday.

    Derrick Raymont Best, now 33, will spend 180 to 225 months in prison.

    According to court records, Best has 1,632 days of jail credit -- the amount of time he served in jail awaiting trial -- to his advantage.

    That means Princess' killer will serve between 11 and 15 years in prison.

    As part of his plea agreement, Best admitted to firing the bullet that went stray of its target, finding instead a toddler on a swing in the Grand at Day Circle housing community in February 2011. She was shot on the housing project playground and died a short time later at Wayne Memorial Hospital.

    Following the shooting -- while Best eluded capture for three weeks -- the Goldsboro community rallied around Renada McLamb, Princess' mother, who was left to grieve the loss of her daughter.

    Maj. Anthony Carmon, head of investigations for the Goldsboro Police Department, said Investigator Chris Melvin worked the case. Both felt confident there was a strong enough case against Best to go to trial.

    "I'll tell you this, there wasn't any lack of evidence," Carmon said.

    The investigation revealed that Best was shooting at another man with whom he had a disagreement, Carmon said.

    According to reports at the time of the shooting, Best fired a long gun several times into the crowded playground at 1800 Day Circle -- now known as The Grand at Day Circle and commonly referred to as Courtyard -- after a dispute with another man. No one else was injured.

    Carmon said community cooperation was instrumental to identifying Best as a suspect in 2011, as well as to the collection of the evidence against him and his eventual capture.
    Best was taken into custody in Greenville on March 16, 2011.

    Neither the district attorney's office nor Princess' family could be reached in time for this report.

    Carmon said law enforcement has nothing to do with what goes on in making arrangements for sentencing.

    "Whatever the judicial system decides is the correct punishment, we accept that and move on," he said.

    He called any loss of life unfortunate.

    "It is unfortunate. No, it is more than unfortunate. It is sad that a young child was killed," he said.

    http://www.newsargus.com/news/archiv...ilds_shooting/

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