SC man gets 30 years in shooting when he was 15

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) — A Spartanburg man who was 15 at the time he was arrested will spend 30 years in prison for killing another man.

Prosecutors say 17-year-old James Mullins accepted a plea deal Thursday and pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in a May 2010 shooting in Spartanburg.

Authorities say Mullins killed 25-year-old Terrico Hull after an argument. Investigators say the two had stopped fighting when Mullins shot Hill in the back.

Mullins told police he was acting in self-defense because he thought Hull had a gun, but no weapon was found on the victim’s body.

Prosecutors say Hull’s family agreed to the plea deal to avoid the stress and unpredictability of a trial while assuring Mullins had plenty of time behind bars to think about his crime.