Judge will hear guilty plea, case against suspect in Raleigh mass shooting Wednesday

Prosecutors will lay out their case against Austin Thompson on Wednesday. He is charged with killing five people in October 2022 in Raleigh's worst mass shooting on record.

On Tuesday, Thompson's attorneys said he would enter a guilty plea. That precludes a trial, but the prosecution, the Wake County District Attorney's Office, will give a rough summary of the evidence they would have submitted in trial at a hearing set for 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Judge Paul Ridgway Ridgway will then determine if the factual basis of the charges is sufficient and whether or not to accept Thompson’s plea.

Thompson is charged with five counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with deadly weapon with intent to kill and one count of assault with firearm on law enforcement officer.

If the plea is accepted, Ridgway will then set a date for Thompson to be sentenced.

Police say Thompson killed first his brother, James Thompson, inside their Hedingham neighborhood home, then fled through the neighborhood to the nearby Neuse River Greenway, shooting another four people along the way. 

Thompson's lawyers, Kellie Mannette and public defender Deonte Thomas, wrote, "He has always accepted he did this ... After lengthy discussions with his attorneys about how a trial would proceed, he has decided he wishes to save the community and the victims from as much additional infliction of trauma as possible."

Robert Steele's fiancée, Mary Marshall, was one of two women shot and killed on the greenway.

He told WRAL News he intends to be in court for the plea and any sentencing hearing.

"That young man took the best person I had ever met away from me. I want to look him in the face when he faces justice," Steele said. "Watching him get sentenced and hopefully sent away for the rest of his life will be the closure that I need."

The guilty plea, which comes just weeks before a trial that was scheduled to begin in February 2026, could be a means for the defense to mitigate the sentence Thompson gets. 

Chris Detwiler, a criminal defense attorney not associated with Thompson's case, said the plea filing is "a pretty clear indication that the intent is now to switch gears from trial mode to plea mode."

In including sympathy for the victims and the community in their filing, Detwiler said, "I think they're going to be more focused on trying to achieve a better result from the judge than they would have been from the jury at trial."

Steele told WRAL News he doubts that community was Thompson's motive.

"He's not trying to spare anybody anything," he said. "He just wants to be done. ... It has nothing to do with us, nothing to do with the community."

Because Thompson was under 18 when the crimes took place, under North Carolina law he can't face the death penalty.

Detwiler says Thompson's age could complicate the sentencing process. The process, he said, could take a week or more. That date should be set today in court, but we’re told it will be sometime in early February.

"It'll be a long, drawn out process," Detwiler said. 

"Both sides are presenting mitigation, but I guess I'd say the defense is presenting mitigation, you know, his age, some of the other stuff that's been suggested in the filings, and then the state's presenting the impact that it had to the community and the victims, and then the judge is just deciding what sentence to impose," he said. 

Steele said he's looking for a life sentence. 

"This will be the closure that I need," he said. "Watching him get sentenced and, hopefully, sent away for the rest of his life will be the closure I need."