Man who flicked cigarette, sparking fatal Wings Cafe melee, shooting takes ‘best interest’ plea

On a December night nearly two years ago, Emmanuel McGhee flicked a lit cigarette at a man, sparking a deadly fight inside Macon’s Wings Cafe nightclub that resulted in three deaths.

McGhee, 29, pleaded guilty Friday to aggravated assault and violating the state’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act. He was sentenced to 20 years, eight of them in prison.

He said he was pleading guilty because the plea was in his best interest, not because he admits any guilt.

Prosecutors allege that members of the Blacc Team street gang, a division of the larger Gangster Disciples, traveled to the Bloomfield Drive nightclub Dec. 12, 2014, and gathered together before going into the known Crips gang hangout. Surveillance footage shows the men as they went inside.

“The mood of the club immediately changed for the worse,” said prosecutor Sandra Matson.

Blacc Team and Gangster Disciples members “stood united” as they confronted a man who’d had prior run-ins with the members, dating back to 2012 when the man was shot by the Gangster Disciples using a weapon used in the Wings Cafe shootings, she said.

Earlier in the week, there’d been a run-in between McGhee, the man and others. Had McGhee opted to go to trial, evidence would have been presented that he’d reached out to a leader of the Gangster Disciples gang and asked for help “take care of the problem,” Matson said.

Inside Wings Cafe, the group confronted the man and McGhee “led the pack” and flicked a cigarette in the man’s face, she said.

Shots were fired. Punches, bottles and chairs were thrown.

Corey Hollingshed, 25, George Henley, 34, and Derrick Jackson, 38, were fatally shot. A woman was shot four times, but she survived.

McGhee’s lawyer, Bernadette Crucilla, said McGhee pleaded guilty because at trial prosecutors will be allowed to introduce evidence relating to any alleged wrongdoing of the other six men set to stand trial during the same Aug. 15 proceeding.

“We don’t think we can overcome all that,” she said. “We can’t distance ourselves from everybody else.”

McGhee, who had been charged with murder, could have faced a life sentence if convicted at trial.

“We have very big concerns he might be convicted of something,” Crucilla said outside the hearing.

McGhee is the third man charged in the shootout to accept a plea bargain.

Shavious Antwan Balkcom, 27, pleaded guilty June 30 to violating the state’s gang act and two misdemeanor simple assault charges. Balkcom, who threw a glass bottle and chair toward a rival gang member in the fight, will remain in jail until July 14, 2017, and serve 15 years on probation with special gang conditions.

In April, Brinton Clinton Williams, 31, of Warner Robins, pleaded guilty to violating the state’s gang act and two counts of being party to the crime of simple assault, a misdemeanor.

As part of his plea deal, Williams will be released from custody after he testifies at the trial for the remaining men charged in the case. He also must serve 15 years on probation.

Unlike the other two men, McGhee’s plea bargain doesn’t involve his testifying at the trial next month.

Crucilla said he won’t be testifying.

During the hearing, McGhee apologized to the families of the men who died.

“There was no intention of foul or malicious acts,” he said. “Things went sour.”

This story was originally published July 8, 2016 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Man who flicked cigarette, sparking fatal Wings Cafe melee, shooting takes ‘best interest’ plea."