CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Maryland man originally charged with murder in a Charleston shooting pleaded guilty to a lesser charge Friday.
Joshua Scales, 34, of Hyattsville, Maryland, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the January 2025 shooting death of St. Albans resident Ethan Chic-Colbert.
Chic-Colbert was in a parked car on Elizabeth Street on Charleston’s East End when he was gunned down. Charleston police arrested Scales about a month later after using evidence from a scratch-off lottery ticket left in a getaway car.
Scales, who was scheduled to go on trial next week, is now scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 29.
Kanawha County Circuit Judge Carrie Webster presided over Friday’s plea hearing.