Joshua Proutey was alive one year ago.
On Dec. 12, 2012, the 19-year-old was a student at Cape Fear Community College and worked at the Hannah Block Community Arts Center.
Joshua Proutey “was on this earth, in this community, walking these streets, impacting the lives of fellow classmates, children and all the loved ones sitting behind me,” District Attorney Ben David said in court Thursday.
“A year ago tomorrow,” David continued, “he was found dead with a bullet in his head, a single gunshot…fired by this defendant and no other, Quintel Raheem Grady.”
Grady, 23, pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Joshua Proutey, who was robbed and shot to death Dec. 13, 2012.
Grady also pleaded guilty to charges of robbery with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm by a felon in New Hanover County Superior Court on Thursday.
Grady is one of four people charged in Joshua Proutey’s death. Christopher Daniel Cromartie, 24, Jasmine Nichole Dottin, 20, and Daniel Edward Henry, 18, have each been charged with first-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon.
“On Dec. 13, almost one year ago, you murdered my beautiful boy by shooting him in the head,” Patty Proutey, Joshua Proutey’s mother, said. “And at that same moment, you slashed me open as well. You ripped out my heart. And I will never be the same. My fight really is not against you, Quintel Grady. My fight is against evil. The evil that…took the hand, that shot the gun, that killed my baby boy.
“But I mean to stand here before you and tell you I forgive you, Quintel Grady, for murdering my beautiful boy. All I ask you to do is to go and do one good thing for my beautiful boy. Please go and get right with God,” Patty Proutey said.
Joshua Proutey was found shot to death outside the Hannah Block Community Arts Center on Second Street in downtown Wilmington at about 10:45 p.m. Dec. 13, 2012. The suspects allegedly stole Joshua Proutey’s cell phone, wallet, $10 in cash and a sandwich, according to David.
An autopsy report showed Joshua Proutey had been shot once in the head from 4 to 5 inches away, David said.
Officers responding to the murder were unable to find any witnesses. Investigators attempted to find video footage of the suspects on camera, including city parking deck cameras, but police were unable to find anything, David said.
One camera at a BP gas station near Forest Hills captured Henry, one of the co-defendants, shortly after the murder. He was pumping $10 worth of gas into a car, David said.
“We believe that’s the same $10 that [they] had just stolen from Joshua Proutey,” David said.
None of the other suspects were visible on the video footage.
“We are very fortunate in this case…because as you just heard, there were no witnesses to this offense….There was no physical evidence linking anyone to the scene,” David said.
On Dec. 15, 2012, officers received an anonymous tip from a caller who reported hearing Christopher Cromartie allegedly talking about the homicide, David said. Cromartie and the other co-defendants were interviewed and identified Grady–who they called “Ghost”–as the shooter, David said.
In April, David announced plans to seek the death penalty in Grady’s case at a Rule 24 hearing in New Hanover County Superior Court. The DA’s office agreed not to pursue the death penalty as part of Grady’s plea agreement, David said.
Superior Court Judge W. Allen Cobb sentenced Grady to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Cobb also sentenced Grady to 84 to 113 months in prison for robbery with a dangerous weapon, 33 to 52 months in prison for conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon and 17 to 30 months in prison for possession of a firearm by a felon.
Grady was convicted of robbery with a dangerous weapon on Feb. 13, 2007, and released from prison in June 2009.
Previous coverage:
Prosecutors to seek death penalty in case of suspect accused of killing CFCC student
Mother of murdered CFCC student speaks out
Four charged with first-degree murder, robbery of CFCC student
CFCC student killed in early morning shooting downtown
Christina Haley is a crime and courts reporter for Port City Daily. Reach her at (910) 772-6337 or christina.h@portcitydaily.com.
