RIDGELAND, S.C. (WSAV) – A Ridgeland man has been convicted in the murder of a 2-year-old child fatally shot in 2018.

Dionte D’Chon Habersham, 21, was found guilty Thursday in Jasper County for Moises Montano’s murder.

According to the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, Habersham was sentenced to 33 years in prison.

He was also convicted of one charge of shooting into a dwelling and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

The shooting was apparently motivated by a property dispute between the toddler’s parents, Sandia and Nelson Montano, and their neighbors, who are relatives of Habersham.

Nelson Montano apparently placed a row of logs along the property line on Fordville Road that was the point of contention. He testified they were placed there to keep his neighbors from driving over his home’s septic system.

Investigators found that Habersham, who was 18 at the time, shot Moises through the wall of his home as he slept with his mother. The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office reported a series of shots were fired, including the one that struck the 2-year-old in the head.

The murder weapon was never recovered, the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office noted, but footprints, shell casings and a gunshot residue test helped investigators narrow down Habersham as the suspect.

He initially gave an alibi, but those he claimed to be with at the time of the shooting didn’t corroborate his story to investigators.

“There should have been no safer place in the world for Moises Montano than asleep in his
home, next to his mother,” said Deputy Solicitor Sean Thornton, who prosecuted the case. “I’ve
been at this a while, but this is one of the most heartbreaking crimes I’ve ever prosecuted.”