SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — The man who shot and killed a father-to-be who opened up the wrong car door at a gas station signed a plea deal this week.
The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office offered Dericole Daniel a 25-year sentence, in which he will spend a fraction of that in jail.
“That was a slap in the face to us,” said Tibitha Dunnaville. “Like my son was not worthy of this world, and I am not happy.”
Her son, Trayvon Dunnaville, 26, died Dec. 12, 2022.
He and his pregnant fiancée stopped at a Shell gas station on Old National Highway near Jonesboro Rd. after he finished work.
He went inside the store to buy something. She waited in the car.
When he came back outside, he accidentally walked up to a car similar to his fiancée’s at a nearby gas pump and opened the door.
That’s when the driver of that car, Daniel, shot him four times.
“I’m quite sure there’s plenty of people that done walked to the wrong car, but they didn’t get shot and killed,” said Dunnaville.
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Daniel’s defense attorney, Jasmine Blake-Stewart, sent Channel 2 a statement that said in part, “Mr. Daniel reasonably believed he was about to get robbed, and was in fear of his life, so he discharged his firearm that he was legally in possession of.”
Daniel’s attorney said a Grand Jury initially charged him with Felony Murder, a charge that carries a life sentence. So, when prosecutors offered him a deal to plead guilty to Voluntary Manslaughter, he took it. As part of the 25-year sentence, he will spend five years in jail and 20 years on probation. The judge said he can cut the probation short for good behavior.
“Then, the judge ask him when do he want to turn himself in. I never heard that a day in my life,” Dunnaville said.
The plea deal allows Daniel to self-report to Fulton County Jail by Sept. 2.
Former prosecutors said that is an unusual condition in deadly criminal cases like these.
Channel 2 Action News has reached out to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office. We are waiting to hear back.
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