Jequan Kimble and Daquan Marrow both received supervised probation of 36 months after pleading to a count of solicitation to commit gang activity.

Both men, who were in separate vehicles, never got of the cars and none were armed, Assistant District Attorney Keith Werner and the men’s attorneys confirmed in court.

The death of Cambridge was related to a problem between two Enfield gangs, Werner told Superior Court Judge Alma Hinton this morning.

The nature of the problem was not disclosed in court.

The gangs involved were the 9 Trey Billy Bloods and the 61 Brimz. rrspin.com learned Cambridge was a member of 61 Brimz.

On June 22, 2015, two cars containing four people each had the vehicle Cambridge was in hemmed in, Werner told the court.

Dexter Taylor, who has already been sentenced as the shooter in the case, got out of one vehicle while Tony Hill, who received a probationary sentence, got out of the other.    

Taylor was armed with an AK-47 and Hill was armed with a handgun, Werner said.

It was not the men’s intent to kill Cambridge, Werner told the court, but to incite fear in their rivals based on the lack of bullet holes in the car and evidence presented they were not shooting directly at the car.

A high-powered bullet fired from Taylor’s gun, however, ricocheted from the ground and up into the bottom of the car striking Cambridge in the back.

Both Kimble and Marrow stayed in cars they were in. Kimble and Taylor were in a car driven by Matthew Simms, who last week was charged in the August murders of four elderly people in the Glenview community.

Simms never got of the car he drove and was not in possession of a weapon in the 2015 murder. However, he did not show up for his court date in the case.

Werner told Hinton Simms was offered the same plea as Kimble and Marrow. “Simms didn’t get the benefit of the plea offer,” and his case in the Cambridge murder remains pending.

Kimble’s attorney, Damian Tucker of Rocky Mount, told the court his 23-year-old client has no prior record. He was riding in the backseat and had been picked up to be taken to Rocky Mount. “He graduated from Southeast High school and was working. He is still working. He had a hard time finding employment.”

Roanoke Rapids attorney Gilbert Chichester represented Marrow, 21, also a Southeast graduate who was a passenger in the other vehicle.

Chichester said all the evidence and discovery shows Marrow, like Kimble, never got out of the vehicle and was never in possession of a weapon. No gunpowder residue was found on him, the attorney said.

Both men received suspended sentences of 5 to 15 months and were both ordered to 36 months of supervised probation. They must go through Security Risk Group training. Successful completion of the SRG training would mean 12 months of unsupervised probation, Hinton said.

They were also sentenced to 40 hours of community service.

Taphil Yancy and Kenneth Westcott are expected to take pleas Thursday.

Simms appearance in the Cambridge case has yet to be set.