MEMPHIS, Tenn. — One of two people charged with the shooting in an alley off of Beale Street has killed before.
Markeith Miller was charged with shooting a Beale Street flipper this weekend.
Tuesday, WREG learned he stabbed someone to death as a teen, but never went to prison.
In 2009, he was charged as an adult with voluntary manslaughter for stabbing a 16-year-old to death in Frayser.
Miller was just 16 himself at the time.
Instead of going to prison, a judge gave him a 3 year suspended sentence and 3 years probation.
Andrew Bell, a friend of the Beale St. flipper who was shot, was not happy about that.
Bell was there this weekend and heard the shooting.
“He was crawling out the back. Crawling out the back, begging for help,” Bell said of his friend. “When I heard the shot, I was looking around to see where the gunshot came from.”
Police said Miller and Tiffany Lewis were the ones responsible for Sunday night’s shooting
They said the victim and Miller got into an argument earlier in the night.
Later, Lewis reportedly drove up to the victim so Miller could jump out and shoot him.
Unlike Miller, Lewis did not have a violent criminal history.
Bell said he wonders if things would have turned out differently this weekend if Miller had been given a prison sentence back in 2009.
Police and the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office have called light sentences for underage teens a problem.
Miller’s bond was set at $500,000.
Lewis was given a $250,000 bond.
Both were scheduled be in court Wednesday morning.