Judge rules on Columbus man’s plea in Macon Road murder despite family’s objections
The Columbus man who at 17 gunned down his ex-girlfriend in front of dozens of motorists on Macon Road pleaded guilty Thursday to multiple charges, in exchange for a prison sentence that could allow his release in 30 years.
Now 20 years old, Markel Andrew Ervin was charged with murder, aggravated assault, kidnapping, hijacking a motor vehicle and other counts related to his abusing and killing 18-year-old Destinee Virgin.
Judge William Rumer gave Ervin a sentence of life with parole over the objections of the victim’s family. Because Ervin would be eligible for parole in 30 years, he is too young to be given so little time, they said.
“He murdered my baby like she was an animal,” mother Mechelle Virgin told Rumer, as she testified to the impact of losing her daughter. Noting a bystander recorded the shooting, she added: “I watched the video, sir. I listened to my child screaming for help. I never heard her cry out like that before. He shot her out of a truck window, multiple times.”
It happened around 7 p.m. Sept. 22, 2018, at the Rigdon Road intersection, where traffic had stopped at a red light. Trying to escape Ervin, Destinee got out of her Nissan Altima and ran, trying to get into other cars.
“He is so young that I feel like life with the possibility (of parole) is not good enough,” the mother said. “He will be like 50, getting out possibly, to live in society, but my baby does not get that second chance.”
She wanted Ervin sentenced to life without parole. “The death penalty is too good for him. Destinee Virgin doesn’t get a second chance, a third chance, so how many will we keep giving Markel?”
Mechelle Virgin’s mother, Felicia Virgin, also asked for a harsher sentence.
“He does not deserve to be able to see the light of day,” she told the court. “My grandbaby is gone. We will never be able to talk to her again. She will never be able to see her nieces and nephews, and they will never be able to see her. He has taken that away from us.”
If Ervin’s paroled in 30 years, “he’ll still be a young person,” she added. “He’ll still possibly be able to have a family, and he shouldn’t have that luxury. He doesn’t deserve it, so I’m asking that whatever can be done, to be done, the maximum that can be given, be given. Nothing less will do.”
Defense attorney Michael Eddings said afterward that Ervin’s sentence was appropriate, given his guilty plea. “The punishment is fitting based on his admission to the crime,” he said, adding that resolving the case without a trial gives both the victim’s and the defendant’s families a chance to move on.
“We can’t stay stuck in life,” he said. “We’ve got to move forward.”
A history of abuse
The victim’s family detailed the teens’ abusive relationship, saying Destinee often had visible injuries from Ervin’s hitting her.
“She had to miss so many days of school because her face was always swollen,” her grandmother said.
Mechelle Virgin had to chase him away from the home she shared with her daughter, because Ervin stalked her, she said. The family got a protective order from the court to keep him away, but he persisted.
The charges to which Ervin pleaded guilty included counts from an earlier case, in which he kidnapped Destinee after they went out to dinner, and held her for two days, leaving her so badly beaten her eye swelled shut.
Assistant District Attorney Breanna Foster recounted the facts of that case, saying Mechelle Virgin told police on April 27, 2018, that the pair went out to eat the night before, and her daughter was supposed to return by 9:30 p.m., but the family had lost touch with her.
Police sent out an alert, and on April 28 friends learned Destinee was at a home on McCormick Place. When an officer picked her up there, he found Ervin hiding under the bed.
In that case, he was charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment, battery, criminal trespass and obstructing police. When Ervin went to court, Mechelle Virgin testified her daughter was in a “toxic relationship” and needed protection.
Ervin went to jail, but later was released on bond.
Detective Robert Nicholas testified Thursday to details of the shooting, which followed a second kidnapping.
He said police discovered Ervin had smashed through a front window of the Virgins’ home on 17th Avenue and kicked out a bedroom door, taking a 9-millimeter pistol as he abducted Destinee.
When officers later were called to the shooting on Macon Road, they found dozens of witnesses waiting to say what they saw, Nicholas said. One had attended Carver High School with the pair, and identified both by name.
Officers assembled a six-photo lineup, and half the witnesses picked Ervin’s picture, identifying him as the shooter. A few days later, another witness called police, saying he had recorded video of the shooting.
It showed Destinee screaming until she was hoarse, as Ervin grabbed her in the street and tried to drag her back to her Nissan, before bystanders were seen ducking the gunfire that followed, Nicholas said.
Ervin afterward got back in the Nissan and drove east to Interstate 185. He later showed up at the Harris County home of an off-duty Columbus police officer, asking to use a phone because his car broke down.
Noticing Ervin had a gun and looked nervous, the officer told his wife to call the police, and tried to handcuff Ervin, who broke free and ran into the woods, with one handcuff still on his wrist, Nicholas said.
He was found the next morning less than a mile away, with Destinee’s bank debit card in his pocket, the detective said. Footprints around the car matched the tread on Ervin’s shoes, and so did the imprint on the door he kicked in at the Virgins’ Columbus home.
In that case, Ervin was charged with murder, aggravated assault, first-degree burglary, kidnapping, hijacking a motor vehicle, and using a firearm to commit a crime.
In the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped only two counts, false imprisonment and felony murder, and Ervin pleaded guilty to all the others. While sentencing him to life with parole, Rumer added a mandatory five years for using a gun to commit a crime, which Georgia law requires.
Though Ervin may be eligible for parole after he turns 50, he could remain imprisoned as Destinee’s family petitions the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to deny his release.
“I will be going to every parole hearing. I will be making sure that he stays behind bars,” Mechelle Virgin said outside the courtroom Thursday.
“He just hurt so many people by taking Destinee from this world,” she added. “I’m just happy that she received some type of justice, and I just don’t want the world to ever forget Destinee, and her story.”
Asked what she would tell other victims of domestic violence, she said: “That love doesn’t hurt, and that if you’re still breathing, you have a chance to get out, and you need to get out before it’s too late.”
This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 10:32 AM.