NEWBERRY COUNTY, S.C. — It's been two years since a passerby found 24-year-old Jamal Alston alongside a South Carolina road with the wounds that would soon take his life. Now, the man convicted of his murder has learned his punishment.
Prosecutors said that just a few days before Christmas in 2021, Alston was driving along Highway 66 when he pulled over to let one of his passengers, 21-year-old Blaize Pedro Plaza of Whitmire, use the bathroom. At some point during this stop, officials say Alston and Plaza got into an argument, and Plaza pulled out a 9mm pistol. Prosecutors said he shot Alston five times and then took his car.
That car was soon found burning in Union County, and a passing driver discovered Alston gravely wounded along the highway in Newberry County around the same time, officials said. It took less than 24 hours for investigators to find Plaza. He admitted to the killing, and his girlfriend, the other passenger, corroborated the story, prosecutors said.
On Wednesday, just days before Plaza was scheduled to face trial, he pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Solicitor David Stumbo praised his team and investigators with the Newberry County Sheriff's Office for their work in the case.
"I cannot say enough about the great investigative work done in this case that allowed us to get justice for Jamal and his family quickly," Stumbo said in a statement. "I pray his family can find closure and begin to heal from the senseless death of their loved one."
