CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A man originally charged with second-degree murder in connection with a 2022 shooting death in Charleston entered a Kennedy Plea to a lesser offense Monday.
Kanawha County prosecutors dropped the murder charge against Shavon Collins, 37, of Charleston, and agreed to a deal where Collins pleaded to the felony offense of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm.
Collins was set to go on trial Monday but instead entered the plea agreement Monday before Kanawha County Circuit Judge Tera Salango. He previously had a mental evaluation at Sharpe Hospital and was declared competent to stand trial.
The shooting took place on Aug. 26, 2022 on Charleston’s West Side. Dontaze Mosley, 34, of Charleston, was gunned down in the front yard of a home on Frame Street.
Kanawha County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Alan Nichols told Salango the state didn’t have the evidence it needed for a conviction.
“We have a firearm and a victim and a defendant but we do not have witnesses to tell us how those all fit together here to present to a jury,” Nichols said.
Collins faces five years in prison and $5,000 fine when he’s sentenced Sept. 9 at 10:30 a.m.