A South Carolina man was sentenced to 100 years in federal prison in the 2021 murder of Big Stone Gap police officer Michael Chandler.
Michael Donivan White, 36, pleaded guilty to eight counts in relation to the Nov. 13, 2021, murder of Chandler.
According to court documents, Chandler had responded to a 4 a.m. dispatch call at 2505 Orr Street in Big Stone Gap, known locally as “the red house.”
Upon arriving at the red house, Chandler encountered a vehicle outside the residence, and requested backup, telling dispatch, “This car is taking off on me.” Inside the vehicle, White told a female co-defendant, Misty Ward, to “get the fu*k out of there,” because there were drugs in the vehicle, and that “he was not going back to jail.”
According to court documents, White and 18 other defendants were participants in a conspiracy to distribute more than 15 kilograms of methamphetamine, in addition to heroin and fentanyl.
Ward started to drive off as directed, but then stopped and got out of the vehicle. At that point, White attempted to flee the scene, but the vehicle got stuck in the grass.
Chandler approached the vehicle on the driver’s side, and White brandished a 9mm pistol and immediately fired eight shots through the driver’s side window and door, striking Chandler’s wrist and abdomen just below his bulletproof vest.
Chandler died later that evening from his injuries.
“No matter how righteous our prosecution was or how just this sentence is, no amount of jail time can bring back Officer Chandler,” Acting United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee said. “Our only hope is that today’s sentence brings some level of closure to Officer Chandler’s friends and family, the Big Stone Gap Police Department, and the Southwest Virginia law enforcement community. To all of the men and women who worked tirelessly to bring Michael White and his co-conspirators to justice, the Department of Justice is eternally grateful.”
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Chris Graham
