What to Know About Murder Case Sentencing

Darcellus Fishburne was sentenced in Charleston County to 45 years in prison after pleading guilty in the 2020 killing of Thomas DiLorenzo. (abcnews4.com) (counton2.com) Judge Deadra Jefferson imposed the sentence on April 24, 2026, after Fishburne pleaded guilty to murder, armed robbery and attempted armed robbery days before trial. (abcnews4.com) (counton2.com) Prosecutors said Fishburne was 15 on July 17, 2020, when he and two other teens went downtown looking for robbery targets and shot DiLorenzo during an attempted holdup. (abcnews4.com) (counton2.com) DiLorenzo was 63 and walking with his wife, Suzanne Austin, the College of Charleston provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, when he was killed. (abcnews4.com) (legacy.com) The case drew attention in Charleston because the shooting happened in broad daylight in the city’s downtown and because Austin was beside her husband when the gunfire started. (abcnews4.com) (counton2.com) Fishburne was prosecuted as an adult even though he was a juvenile at the time of the shooting, and the sentencing came nearly six years after the killing. (abcnews4.com) (counton2.com) Thomas DiLorenzo had recently moved to Charleston with Austin before the attack, according to his obituary, which described him as a higher-education leader and teacher. (legacy.com) The sentence closed the criminal case against Fishburne without a trial, but it did so after prosecutors spent years preparing to present the 2020 downtown shooting to a jury. (abcnews4.com) (counton2.com)