Man sentenced to prison in 2020 Davenport shooting death

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) - A man was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison for his role in the 2020 shooting death of Sylvester Eddings.

Derrick D. Hargrett, 36, pleaded guilty in January to voluntary manslaughter, second-degree robbery and willful injury causing bodily injury.

On Wednesday, District Court Judge Stuart P. Werling sentenced Hargrett to 10 years in prison on two of the charges and five years in prison on the third charge. For all three charges, he was given credit for time served. The judge ordered the sentences to run consecutively, or back-to-back, for a total of 25 years.

He initially faced the more serious charges of first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, conspiracy to commit a forcible felony and possession of a firearm by a felon.

According to arrest affidavits:

Hargrett conspired with Demarcus Laron Liddell, Taneshia Nashay Coleman, and Cordell L. McDowell to rob Eddings at Coleman’s apartment in the 6500 block of North Harrison Street on Aug 22, 2020.

Liddell and Coleman, who was at the apartment at the time, texted each other to discuss the details of the robbery.

Coleman said in the text exchange that Eddings was at the apartment and that the three men should come to the back door, which is how he, McDowell, and Hargrett got inside the apartment as captured by surveillance video.

One of the men was armed with a gun. Eddings was pistol-whipped before he was fatally shot.

A third adult and a child also were in the apartment at the time of the shooting, according to the affidavits.

Liddell, 35, is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, and conspiracy to commit a forcible felony. He has a pretrial conference on March 24.

Coleman, 39, pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy to commit a forcible felony and was sentenced in December to a suspended 10-year sentence and placed on three years of probation.

McDowell, 34, pleaded guilty in October 2021 to willful injury resulting in serious injury and conspiracy to commit a forcible felony. He was sentenced in October to 10 years in prison on each charge, to run consecutively, or back-to-back, for a total of 20 years.

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