Man pleads guilty to killing 3 family members
A 25-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday to stabbing to death his mother and two siblings in the family’s Lithonia home.
Eugene Quatron McCoy reached a plea agreement with prosecutors that avoided the possibility he would receive the death penalty, said his attorney, Gerald Word. McCoy could be sentenced next month to life without parole.
“This was a horrific event that claimed the lives of three innocent individuals,” said DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James. “No sentence could ever bring back his mother, brother and sister. However, there is some resolve in knowing that Eugene McCoy will no longer walk the streets of DeKalb County ever again.”
McCoy appeared before DeKalb County Superior Court Chief Judge Gregory Adams on Monday to plead guilty to three counts of malice murder and one count of aggravated battery, Word said.
McCoy was accused of stabbing to death Sheila Irons, his 45-year-old mother; Zion McPherson, his 11-year-old stepbrother; and Chastity McPherson, his 8-year-old stepsister on April 3, 2011. McCoy’s then-17-year-old sister, Candice McCoy, was injured but escaped from the house.
Irons had previously obtained two restraining order against McCoy even though he was still living in her house.
McCoy, who had been previously arrested for criminal trespassing and violating family orders, had been out of jail for about two weeks when his family was stabbed.
About the Author
Mark Niesse is an enterprise reporter and covers elections and Georgia government for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is considered an expert on elections and voting. Before joining the AJC, he worked for The Associated Press in Atlanta, Honolulu and Montgomery, Alabama. He also reported for The Daily Report and The Santiago Times in Chile.
