It was a busy year in Monongalia County’s courts — 2019 saw the suspects in two shootings sentenced to prison and several notable trials, including one that sent a rapist to jail.
An attempted murderer
Imani Zachary Cody, 21, pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder and wanton endangerment involving a firearm in Monongalia County Circuit Court on July 10.
Judge Susan Tucker sentenced the Detroit man to
3-15 years for attempted murder and five years for wanton endangerment. The sentences are running consecutively.
On Dec. 12, Cody shot Derrick Hamlet, 24, at a Brockway Avenue home. Hamlet was at the apartment to buy marijuana when Cody told him to empty his pockets and shot him in the arm, chest and leg. He also fired shots at Marjorie Gardens on Dec. 9. No one was hit there.
The Marjorie Gardens shooting was over a disagreement about a cell phone with a woman, Monongalia County Prosecutor Perri DeChristopher said.
Robbery and assault during the commission of a felony, both charges Cody was indicted on by the May 2019 term of the Monongalia County grand jury, were dropped as part of the plea as was a controlled substance charge that was yet to be presented to a grand jury.
Cody was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in Detroit on Jan. 16.
Strip club shooter
Fred L. Hudson, 26, pleaded guilty to unlawful assault and wanton endangerment. He was indicted on both charges, as well as prohibited person in possession of a firearm, by the May 2019 term of the Monongalia
County grand jury. The firearm possession charge was dropped as part of a plea agreement.
Hudson wounded a woman in a shooting outside of Club Exotica in April.
Judge Debra Scudiere sentenced Hudson to serve three years in prison for the wanton endangerment charge, one to five years for the unlawful assault and given 180 days credit for time served. He was also ordered to pay $24,693 in restitution.
If the case had gone to trial, the state would have shown that Hudson shot a gun several times outside Club Exotica in the early morning hours of April 20, Assistant Prosecutor Chad Noel said. One of the shots struck a woman in the leg and other people were in the area and could have been hit.
Hudson admitted to his involvement to a detective with the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department during an interview on April 24, Noel said.
Scudiere also accepted Hudson’s guilty plea to prohibited person in possession of a firearm from a December 2018 incident. He was not indicted on this charge and pleaded to the prosecutor’s information.
Hudson was sentenced to three years in prison on that charge.
Noel said on Dec. 15, 2018 an officer with the Morgantown Police Department stopped Hudson on Beechurst Avenue and found him with a silver and black pistol. As a previously convicted felon — including a conviction for assaulting an officer in Michigan — Hudson is not allowed to have guns.
Rapist gets 10-25 years
Judge Phillip Gaujot sentenced Timmy Allen Crockett, 48, to 10-25 years in prison. Crockett will also be on supervised release for 10 years, register as a sex offender for life and pay more than $4,000 in restitution.
The victim was a 19-year-old WVU student at the time of the assault.
A jury deliberated for about two hours before finding Crockett guilty of second-degree sexual assault in July.
The prosecution and defense agreed the victim and a friend met Crockett downtown at a bar, where they drank before moving on to another bar. Both sides agree the victim drove to her apartment with her friend.
“I told you at the start of the case this was a crime of opportunity,” Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Gabrielle Mucciola said in her closing argument.
Crockett testified that the victim’s friend sent him a Snapchat telling him the victim wanted him to come over. Mucciola called it convenient that the message asking him to come over was sent through an app that deletes messages. A text sent by Crockett to the victim telling her he was coming over went unanswered.
The victim was very sick and testified she was passed out when she was woken up by the intercourse.
