Life sentence upheld for Fayetteville man who robbed and killed marijuana dealer

Two men from Fayetteville will remain in prison for the rest of their lives for robbing and killing a woman who sold marijuana from her home, the N.C. Court of Appeals has ruled.

The Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld the conviction and life sentence for  Alkeen Hair, 27, for the murder of 28-year-old Nekeshia Deshon Washington in July 2018. In August 2022, the appeals court upheld the conviction and life sentence for one of his co-defendants, 28-year-old Akeem Devonte McIver.

According to the rulings and other court records:

• Washington sold marijuana from her home on Slater Avenue in the Murchison Road area of Fayetteville. She kept some of it in a mason jar.
• Another man, Antonio N. Johnson, drove Hair and McIver to Slater’s neighborhood for them to buy marijuana from her. He parked around the block from Washington’s home and waited while Hair and McIver went to the house.
• At Washington’s home, either Hair or McIver shot and killed Washington.
• The men took Washington’s cell phone and her mason jar of marijuana.
• Johnson picked Hair and McIver up after he heard the gunfire, and he drove them to Hair’s girlfriend’s house.
• At the house, two dogs charged at Johnson and McIver. Johnson used the gun that killed Washington to shoot at the dogs.

Washington’s mother, Vickey McArthur, lived next door to her. When McArthur heard the gunfire, she went outside, the ruling says. She testified she saw Hair “going in and out of her daughter’s house, wrapping something in a bandana, and Mr. McIver standing in the yard.”

McArthur said she saw the men get into the car and leave, and then she found Washington’s body on the sidewalk, the ruling says.

The police arrested the three men in the following weeks.

As the getaway driver, Johnson pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to first-degree murder and was sentenced in May 2022 to at least six years incarceration, but no more than eight years and three months.

McIver was tried and convicted of first-degree murder in July 2021 and sentenced to life without parole.

Hair was tried in March 2022 and convicted of first-degree murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and intimidating a witness. His sentence is life without parole, plus up to two years and two months for intimidating a witness.

The witness intimidation conviction stems from an incident between Hair and Johnson in July 2021, the court papers say.

The two were both in custody and being driven together from the county jail to the county courthouse. A legal brief and the ruling say Johnson was in handcuffs and leg irons; Hair was not. The documents say Hair punched Johnson in the jaw.

“When Defendant was questioned about hitting Mr. Johnson, he answered, ‘that’s my codefendant. He trying to testify on me and give me life in prison,’” the Court of Appeals ruling says.

Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.

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