Chauncey Askew’s trial for the killing of Jerome Parrot will move to Brunswick County due to publicity surrounding Askew’s alleged 2018 murder of Trooper Kevin Conner.
Askew, who is now 22, was under 18 when he allegedly shot and killed Parrott in a pool room in Green Acres. Askew was indicted for the earlier murder after he was arrested for the killing of Conner on U.S. 701 South of Whiteville.
Askew’s attorneys asked the court Friday for the change in venue, citing news coverage of the Conner death. The court agreed that the potential jury pool could be tainted by Conner being well-known in the community, and the extensive media coverage of his death.
Parrott, 39, was shot to death in the Pine Circle Pool Room in 2016. District Attorney Jon David is seeking the death penalty for the Conner slaying, but because Askew was under 18 when Parrott was killed, Askew cannot be executed for that death.
Askew and Raheem Cole Davis were in a stolen truck south of Whiteville near Sellerstown Road when Conner pulled them over for a traffic violation on Oct. 17, 2018. The trooper was shot as he approached the truck in the pre-dawn hours. Davis had allegedly stolen the truck earlier that evening from a Chadbourn business.
Davis was arrested a few hours afterward when he got the truck stuck on railroad tracks in Fair Bluff. He was originally charged with murdering Conner, but later that charge was changed to accessory after the fact. Askew was arrested Oct. 23, 2018, in South Carolina by federal agents.
Askew was convicted in 2017 of possession of a firearm by a felon and identity theft in Cumberland County, and in August 2018 was found guilty of felony breaking and entering. Prison records show he was released Aug. 31. Askew was also arrested after a series of assaults and robberies in Chadbourn in October 2017.
Parrott had a length criminal record, including assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury, after he emptied a handgun into a vehicle and wounded two men. That shooting came several months after he was released from prison after being convicted of a 1998 shooting in Green Acres, where two other men were seriously injured.
