After three days of deliberating, a Los Angeles jury has convicted a former Greenville man of voluntary manslaughter in connection with the shooting death of a homeless man last year in Hollywood, Greg Risling, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, said Friday.
Troy T. McVey, 22, was convicted of fatally shooting transient Richard Miller, 52, just before midnight on Jan. 4, 2015, at a busy intersection in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles.
McVey originally was tried for murder in October, which resulted in a hung jury. His murder retrial started on Jan. 14, and both he and his mother testified on Feb. 5, just before final arguments were made.
“Jury came back this morning and found Mr. McVey guilty of one count of voluntary manslaughter and found a special allegation that he used a gun to be true,” Risling said in an email. “In the previous trial, he was found guilty of one count of felony vandalism.”
McVey’s lawyer, Arthur Lindars, added that his client was found not guilty of murder. He argued that McVey had taken the drug Ecstasy and didn’t know what he was doing when he killed Miller.
“The sentencing guidelines are five years to 21 years” for a manslaughter conviction, Lindars said.
Ecstasy, or MDMA, produces both amphetamine-like stimulation and mild mescaline-like hallucinations, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
Miller was shot multiple times at about 11:55 p.m. Jan. 4, 2015, and was taken to an area hospital, where he later died of his wounds, according to a news release from the Los Angeles Police Department issued the day after the shooting.
The incident was caught on surveillance cameras in the area and show McVey smashing a vehicle’s windows just before the shooting.
Shortly after final arguments were made, Lindars was informed by prosecutors that reports about the shooting victim’s mental health were not released as requested in May 2015, the Los Angeles defense attorney said.
“We’ll investigate that further, the information about the victim, and see if there is anything there,” Lindars said Friday. “If we do, I’ll file a motion for a mistrial.”
McVey and Colby R. Kronholm, 21, both formerly of Greenville, were arrested together and charged with murder shortly after the shooting. The charge against Kronholm was dropped in October, according to Risling. Deputy District Attorney Michael Dean handled the case.
The shooting was witnessed by an off-duty Los Angeles Police Department officer, who helped lead police to McVey and Kronholm, who ran from the scene.
If McVey had been convicted of murder, he would have faced 25 years to life. The felony vandalism conviction carries a penalty of up to eight months, Risling said.
“His possible maximum sentence is 21 years, eight months in state prison,” he said.
McVey’s sentencing date is scheduled for mid-April.