South Carolina Criminal Lawyer Blog

An inmate at the Lieber Correctional Institution has received the death penalty for the murder of another inmate. The defendant stabbed the other inmate at least twelve times with a makeshift knife. He pleaded guilty and asked for no mercy, stating to the Circuit Judge that he wanted to die for his crimes. He was in prison for life for killing two people during a robbery several years earlier.

Since this man plead guilty, his direct appeal will be limited to the plea colloquy and sentencing transcripts. Therefore, it is most likely this conviction will be upheld by the South Carolina Court of Appeals, unless an appellate attorney in South Carolina can show that the plea was coerced or involuntary. Additionally, the defendant may decide to pursue a postconviction relief motion, comonly known as a PCR, in an atempt to show he received ineffective assistance of counsel. He received the death penalty, so a South Carolina criminal attorney will most likely be appointed to represent him during a PCR hearing. However, it is doubtful that this motion will be successful since the inmate asked for the death penalty, his statement will be on the record.

The family of the young man who was murdered by this inmate may be able to file a civil action against the prison for negligence, wrongful death, or file a claim in Federal Court as a violation of his civil rights. However, because the prison is a state facility, the prison officials will have some protection from liability. A wrongful death attorney in South Carolina will have to show that prison officials were not properly trained, and failed to properly supervise the inmates at this facility, which led to the young man's death.

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Local law enforcement in North Myrtle Beach have stated that they will not be pressing charges in an incident during which a man died. The man was seen shoplifting in Wal-Mart and three employees and a bystander wrestled him to the ground in the parking lot. At some point during the incident, the man died. An autopsy has been performed, but the cause of death has not been released at this time. Additionally, it is unknown whether these Wal-mart employees have hired an attorney or more specifically, a criminal defense lawyer in Myrtle Beach.

Based on these known facts, it appears that this was not a murder. The parties involved did not have the intent to kill the man, but were trying to prevent a theft. Murder requires the intent to kill or a willful disregard for human life, known as depraved heart murder. Additionally, these individuals could not be charged with voluntary manslaughter because this homicide also requires an intent to kill but is mitigated by the state of mind of the individual or the circumstances surrounding the case. Involuntary manslaughter is negligent homicide and does not require an intent to kill.

However, depending on the results of autopsy, the deceased family may have a claim for wrongful death. The family would have to prove the man's death was caused by the individuals that wrestled the man to the ground. Therefore, the autopsy will be the key piece of evidence in this case.

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Robert Parker has been charged with murder. His case was in the media as he is alleged to have shot and killed his wife in the Loews parking lot in North Myrtle Beach. This case is based on a divorce between Mr. Parker and his wife Donna Parker. The couple was apparently together at the Loews in North Myrtle Beach after the police had been to their how several times for criminal domestic violence. Normally a criminal domestic violence charge will automatically have a restraining order. The Sun News reported that the Horry County Police Department responded to the former address of the Parker's 13 times in just over a month. This would require some type of arrest for criminal domestic violence in Horry County.
The Sun News also has reported that the couple was fighting over their business and employees. The Parkers were in the process of getting a divorce, but it seems they were still having to spend a substantial amount of time together. There was a divorce case and the Parkers had divorce lawyers in Myrtle Beach. Every time the police are called to a domestic violence case they usually arrest one of the parties. In this case it appears that one of the Parkers would always leave prior to the police arriving.
Mr. Parker is going to need to hire a very good Myrtle Beach Attorney to represent him in his case. He will need to be evaluated to determine if he was competent at the time of the shooting and whether the shooting was in self defense.

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Horry County Police are investigating three house fires near Loris, South Carolina and currently believe it was arson. Arson is the malicious burning of dwelling house of another and can be a first degree felony, second degree felony or third degree felony. A solicitor must prove each element beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.f

If a person is killed during the fire, the crime constitutes felony murder. A person is charged with felony murder when there is a homicide during the commission of the following state or federal crimes: burglary, arson, rape, robbery, kidnapping. Federal law also includes carjacking and terrorism. Even if the death is accidental, a defendant can be charged with manslaughter. If a person breaks in to a home and enters it to start a fire, the defendant would most likely be charged with burglary and arson.

The police in Loris are entertaining the possibility that the fires could have been started out of revenge, which is very common, or the fires could have been started by someone who is infatuated by fire. Local authorities are worried that someone may be injured if the fires continue in Loris.

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The Charleston Courier is reporting that a Conway, South Carolina man has been charged with murder. The murder charge stems from a road rage incident in Horry County. Horry County Sheriff's department arrested David Pacheco on Saturday night at the scene of the shooting. This Conway murder charge may not be as strong of a case as one might think. The Charleston Post and Courier are reporting that Pacheco shot and killed Victor Arce after Arce intentionally caused a wreck. Pacheco will have some real defenses to these charges. The Horry County Solicitor's office will prosecute the case and the case will be before a General Sessions judge in Conway.

Pacheco will have the opportunity to hire a criminal defense lawyer in Conway or any criminal defense lawyer in South Carolina. Pacheco will most likely not face the death penalty in this case because there was not premeditation prior to the killing. Many times the a case with similar facts would expose a defendant to a plea offer ranging from 10 years to 25 years. Unless Pacheco is willing to plead guilty to many years in prison, he must get a trial attorney to prepare his case. Many times people hire lawyers who have never had a trial or litigated any case to verdict.

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The Horry County coroner has confirmed that the death of a 17 month old child in Galivants Ferry was from blunt head trauma. The grandmother of the child and her boyfriend will most likely be charged with murder, child neglect and child abuse. The grandmother appears to be only 37 years old and her boyfriend 30 years old. Both will have a right to a bond hearing before a Circuit Court Judge in Conway. Any bond that is set for these two defendants will be a rather high number. There are several defenses to this case, but most will require the testimony of an expert witness regarding the cause of death. It will also be important to ask the court to preserve the childs body for examinaiton by a defense expert. The preservation of any possible evidence that could vendicate the defendant is extremely important. The autopsy was performed by the Horry County Coroner, yet the child was in Charleston at the time of death. This means that there were several procedures performed on the child outside of Horry County which must be investigated. If the defendants have
A manslaughter charge would help with limiting the defendants prison time exposure. A good defense attorney will have to move quickly in defending this case and trying to convince the solicitor's office to indict the defendants on manslaughter instead of murder.

Continue reading "Horry County Coroner Confirms Trauma Related Death" »

Immediately after I discussed this case on the blog, authorities in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania have discovered the body of a woman who may be connected with the newborn brought to the hospital by Andrea Curry-Demus. Ms. Curry-Demus previously claimed to have purchased the newborn for $1,000.00. However, a woman's body that was bound and gagged was discovered in an apartment belonging to Ms. Curry-Demus. There was evidence of a partial evisceration and a placenta was found at the scene.
With this new evidence, Ms. Curry-Demus could be facing a variety of new charges. These charges include: murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, depraved-heart murder, felony murder, manslaughter, and kidnapping. In Pennsylvania, a person convicted of first degree murder may receive the death penalty. However, not the electric chair. Use of the electric chair was abolished in 1990, now like most states, lethal injection is used.
If the state decides to pursue the death penalty against Ms. Curry-Demus, there will be two phases. First the trial phase during which the evidence against her for the murder would be presented by the state. If convicted of first degree murder, the second phase of the proceedings would begin, her sentencing hearing.
During the sentencing phase, any mitigating factors are presented by her defense attorney. Ms. Curry-Demus may have an affirmitive defense, insanity. However, if her attorneys decide to proceed with the insanity defense, a pretrial motion must be filed before the start of the trial. The State is entitled to notice of this defense.

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http://www.criminal-trial-lawyer.org/index.html Three individuals have been arrested for murder by the Myrtle Beach Police Department. The murder occurred during Bike Week and is said to have been related to a parking space dispute. A Coastal Carolina University student was killed in the incident. Myrtle Beach police have 911 calls that describe the incident. This type of murder is very uncommon for this area of the country. Fights and gun battles are not uncommon for the streets of Miami, but the streets of Myrtle Beach are usually safe from this type of conflict. The three defendants have not been indicted by the local solicitor on this case. There will most likely be an indictment in the coming weeks. The defendants could face the death penalty depending on what information investigators provide to the solicitor's office.
A first degree murder indictment will allow the solicitor's office to decide whether to seek the death penalty on one or all the defendants. Evidence of the murder will be centered eye witnesses and the 911 calls that were recorded. Having defended clients for murder in the past, I can assure you that time is of the essence in preparing a good defense. The primary defenses from the facts reported to date would be mistaken identity or self defense. Independent investigations are critical to either support or contradict the investigation of the police department. The solicitor's office will most likely try to get one of the defendants to testify against the others. This will increase the likelihood of a conviction. In the federal system this is called flipping a defendant. Federal cases are almost always based on "flipping or flips", whether they are witnesses or co-defendants.

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