SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – A Spartanburg County woman was sentenced Monday morning in connection to a deadly shooting.
According to the Spartanburg County Solicitor’s Office, Linda Huntley, 71, of Una, pleaded guilty to the murder of 24-year-old Alexandra Toney.
Huntley also pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and battery, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and three counts of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.
We previously reported that deputies responded on February 8, 2019 to a disturbance with weapons in the 1200 block of Edgewood Avenue.
Upon arrival, deputies observed the body of Toney lying in a ditch across the street from Huntley’s house next to a black Nissan Pathfinder. The Pathfinder was parked and had two small children inside with a woman passager in the front seat and a man passenger outside of the vehicle.
The solicitor’s office said Huntley told deputies she thought Toney was a gang member who was going to kill her based on threats Toney made to her while Toney was at her house earlier in the day.
Investigation showed the two women knew each other because Toney sold marijuana to Huntley’s 16-year-old grandson who lived at the house.
Toney had been at the house earlier in the day, seeking payment for the marijuana, the solicitor’s office said.
Toney told Huntley she was going to return to the house with “10 G’s” and that they would shoot up her house, according to the solicitor’s office. Toney left but returned several hours later and parked the Pathfinder she was driving across the street.
Toney got out of the vehicle and met with one of Huntley’s grandchildren. That is when a verbal interaction began between Toney and another witness on the scene.
The solicitor’s office said that is when Huntley opened fire from her front porch and shot multiple times.
Huntley called 911 to report she shot a female who was outside her house.
A judge sentenced Huntley to 30 years in prison for the voluntary manslaughter charge but suspended it to 3 years of service. She will also serve 5 years of home detention and 5 years of probation.
Huntley did not have a prior criminal record but runs the risk of lengthy incarceration if she violates the terms of the sentence.
