Grandmother admits to shooting, killing man after domestic dispute

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Channel 9 was in the courtroom Thursday morning as a grandmother made a tearful apology, admitting she shot and killed a man after a domestic dispute in north Charlotte last year.

Marchell Bright-Walters pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter almost one year after she shot and killed 42-year-old Otis Lucas Jr. on Madison Avenue.

Prosecutors said Bright–Walters was arguing with her boyfriend when she fired a shot intended for him, but it hit Lucas instead.

A witness reported seeing her walking down the road with a gun minutes later.

Marchell Bright–Walters Marchell Bright-Waters pleading guilty in court Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020. (WSOC)

In the courtroom Thursday, Bright-Walters apologized to Lucas’ family, to her own family and to police and prosecutors who worked the case.

“I hope that after I’ve paid my debt to society, that I have the opportunity to show everyone that knows me that, although my actions on the night of the incident were bad, that I’m not a bad person,” she said.

Bright-Walters told detectives she had been assaulted by her boyfriend before and was afraid on the night she fired the fatal shot.

She was sentenced to five years behind bars.