Teen pleads guilty after college baseball player was killed trying to buy a cellphone

A Charlotte teenager who said he was the look-out during the robbery and killing of a college baseball player last June pleaded guilty to a lesser charge Thursday and has agreed to testify against the accused shooter.

In an agreement with prosecutors, 18-year-old Demonte McCain pleaded guilty to attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon. He faces eight to 11 1/2 years in prison, Mecklenburg Assistant District Attorney Tim Sielaff said.

McCain must first testify against Jahzion Wilson, who is accused of fatally shooting 21-year-old Zack Finch after agreeing online to sell him a cellphone, according to Sielaff. McCain is scheduled to be sentenced after Wilson's trial. A juvenile also has been charged in the case.

Wilson, who faces a first-degree murder charge, was 15 at the time of the shooting. Earlier this month, a judge denied his attorney's request to delay the case so Wilson could take the GED.

Finch was on a baseball scholarship and a year short of graduating from the University of the Cumberlands in Kentucky when he went online last year to find a cellphone to buy. He thought he found one on the marketplace app LetGo.

He was fatally shot when he went to pick up the phone on Father's Day near Clanton Road in southwest Charlotte.

Those who met Finch intended to rob him instead of selling him a phone, police and prosecutors said.

“As far as what the victim did, there doesn’t appear to be any type of defense or fighting that led to the shooting,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Capt. Chris Dozier said at the time. “The motive here seemed to be robbery, but to have this happen and have such a disregard, for such a young person to commit this kind of crime is disturbing.”

On Thursday, Finch's mother, Tara Finch, told the Observer: "Obviously, I don't think any amount of time is enough time. I don't get 5 more minutes with my son."

"It's terrible they preyed upon the good in humanity," Tara Finch said. "Zachary believed in the good in everyone, because he was good. He thought everyone was like he was."

"I am glad he is going to testify against the shooter," Finch said of McCain agreeing to testify against Wilson. "And my hope is that (Wilson) never sees the light of day."

Staff researcher Maria David contributed.

This story was originally published June 28, 2018 at 8:03 PM.