Trials
Dabney Maurice Thomas Jr. was sentenced to 43 years for the Lynchburg killing of cab driver Carroll Mack.
On Oct. 15, 2026, WDBJ reported that Dabney Maurice Thomas Jr. was sentenced to 43 years for second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony in the Feb. 9, 2024 shooting death of Allied taxi driver Carroll Mack, 62. He was also ordered to three years of supervised probation after release.
By Crime Talk Network Staff Writer ·
A prison sentence after a guilty plea is the judgment on the counts admitted. It is not a pending accusation. WDBJ and WSET reported Thomas pleaded guilty in August 2024 to second-degree murder and the firearm count, with other firearm-related charges dismissed under the plea, and that a judge imposed 43 years with three years of supervised probation to follow. Surveillance video and forensic findings described by Commonwealth's Attorney Bethany Harrison are the prosecution's account behind that judgment.
WDBJ reported Oct. 15, 2026, that Dabney Maurice Thomas Jr. was sentenced to serve 43 years for second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony in the Lynchburg killing of cab driver Carroll Mack. Commonwealth's Attorney Bethany Harrison said Thomas was also ordered to submit to three years of supervised probation upon release from incarceration. WSET reported the same 43-year total as 40 years on the murder count and three years on the firearm count, and said the sentencing hearing was held Wednesday.
Harrison recounted that on Feb. 9, 2024, Lynchburg police answered a shots-fired call on Morson Street between Cobbs Street and Mosby Avenue and found Mack, 62, unresponsive near the passenger side of an unoccupied Allied taxi with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He was pronounced dead after being taken to a hospital. Harrison said a backyard surveillance camera captured Mack stopping the cab, repeatedly telling a passenger later identified as Thomas to get out, then backing away as Thomas produced a firearm. Mack urged him to put the gun away and offered to continue the ride if he did. The two struggled and fell; a single gunshot was heard. Thomas retrieved a backpack and walked away, Harrison said.
A search of Thomas's father's home on Cobbs Street produced a gun hidden atop a closet that forensic analysis tied to Mack's shooting, Harrison said. Bloody clothing Thomas wore that day was found at his girlfriend's home. Cell-phone tracking led Lynchburg police to take Thomas into custody the same day. Thomas originally faced additional reckless-handling and discharging-firearm counts that were dismissed in exchange for the August 2024 guilty pleas to the top offenses, according to WDBJ.
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