Abuser featured in Mississippi Today story pleads guilty to shooting ex-girlfriend

by Kate Royals, Mississippi Today
February 16, 2022

The Rankin County man who repeatedly bonded out of jail and reportedly attacked his ex-girlfriend pleaded guilty Monday to two felony charges in Scott County Circuit Court. 

Tony Boyd was sentenced to 23 years in prison with five years suspended after shooting his former girlfriend Kizzetta McClendon in Morton in March 2020. 

Under state law, Boyd will be eligible for parole after serving nine years, according to Steven Kilgore, district attorney for the Eighth Circuit Court District. 

Boyd, who had previously served time in prison for stabbing a woman in 2010, was charged and indicted by a Scott County grand jury in November 2020 on charges of felony-level domestic violence and felon in possession of a firearm stemming from the shooting. 

After bonding out of jail following the shooting, Boyd was charged again with felony-level domestic violence in September 2020 after allegedly attempting to run over McClendon in a parking lot. 

Boyd was arrested, bonded out again and charged with rape – also in connection with McClendon – in March 2021. He was never indicted on those two charges.

“The plea deal was made with the understanding that his two unindicted cases were encompassed in this plea,” said Kilgore. 

The “global plea” means the prosecution could tack on more time for the indicted charges using the unindicted charges as leverage. However, the rape and the second aggravated assault cases will be closed.

“This entire process was done with input and agreement from Ms. McClendon,” said Kilgore. 

McClendon said while it brings her solace to know there is no longer an immediate chance of Boyd being released and hurting her again, she ideally wanted the three cases treated separately. 

“He tried to kill somebody twice, but by the grace of God – not the law, not him – we survived to tell our story,” she said. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.