York County SC felon pleads guilty in home invasion ax attack, prosecutors say
A York County felon has been sentenced to 18 years in a South Carolina prison after pleading guilty to a 2020 home invasion, according to prosecutors and court records.
Derrick McKnight Cook, 48, of Rock Hill, pleaded guilty Monday to kidnapping, burglary, armed robbery, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, weapons, and meth trafficking charges, according to 16th Circuit Assistant Solicitor Leslie Robinson and court records.
Cook was set to begin trial Monday on the charges but pleaded guilty and faced a sentence of 15 to 30 years, Robinson said.
Visiting S.C. Circuit Court Judge Michael Holt sentenced Cook to 18 years, records show.
In the 2020 incident, the 59-year-old victim told police he was tied with duct tape, beaten, punched, and cut with a bush ax by two suspects.
Cook was arrested at the crime scene after he was found inside the victim’s home in a closet with the victim’s blood on him, Robinson said.
Cook had been in jail since his arrest.
Cook was convicted on drug charges in 2020 before the home invasion, court records show. He also has past convictions for armed robbery, burglary, and weapons, according to prosecutors and state and federal records.
A co-defendant in the case, Joseph William Collins, 36, was sentenced in late 2021 to eight years in prison after pleading guilty in the case, court records show.
