south carolina death row | My Crime Library

James Roach South Carolina Execution

James Roach was executed by the State of South Carolina for a double murder. According to court documents James Roach and Joseph Shaw would attack a teen age couple where the girl was sexually assault and both were murdered. James Roach and Joseph Shaw would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Joseph Shaw would be executed by way of the electric chair on January 11, 1985. James Roach who was seventeen years old when the double murder took place would be executed on January 10 1986.

James Roach More News

James Terry Roach, who murdered two teen-agers when he was only 17, was executed today after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal and the governor refused clemency requests from the United Nations, Mother Teresa, Jimmy Carter and human rights groups.

Roach, 25, was pronounced dead at 5:16 a.m., said Doug Catoe, a deputy corrections department commissioner.

″I leave you comfortable that I’ve been forgiven in my sins, just as I have forgiven those who have done this to me,″ Roach said in a final statement addressed to his family and fellow death-row inmates.

″I’m going to a much better place without a heavy burden upon me. I pray that my fate will some day save another kid that ends up on the wrong side of the tracks. … ″To my family and friends, there is only three words to say: I love you. May God bless each and every one of you.″

With two dissenting votes, the Supreme Court late Thursday refused to grant a stay, clearing the way for Roach’s early morning execution in South Carolina’s electric chair at the Central Correctional Institution.

U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar; Joao Clemente Baena Soares, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States; Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa; former President Carter and international human rights groups all made appeals on Roach’s behalf.

But Gov. Dick Riley refused to grant clemency. He had also refused clemency for co-defendant Joseph Carl Shaw, who was 22 when the slayings occurred and was executed Jan. 11, 1985.

About 220 death penalty proponents and 60 opponents gathered outside the century-old prison on the Congaree River in chilly predawn temperatures before the execution.

Inside, Roach laughed nervously while waiting for the sentence to be carried out.

″He was very calm about everything,″ said said witness Sean Callebs. ″He showed no emotion.″

Roach, who was the second person put to death in South Carolina and the 51st in the nation since the death penalty was reinstituted in 1976, spent Thursday night visiting with relatives and a minister.

He requested a last meal of fried shrimp, hush puppies, french fries, tossed salad, cherry cheesecake and a soft drink, said Hal Leslie, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections.

Roach’s attorneys argued that his life should be spared because he suffered from Huntington’s chorea, a mentally debilitating condition, and because international accords prohibit the execution of those younger than 18 at the time of their offense.

Similar arguments made to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier Thursday also were unsuccessful.

Roach said on ABC-TV’s ″Nightline″ Thursday he did not want to die.

″I think anybody who’s under 18 who is in the shape like I’m in, they can be rehabilitated,″ he said. ″I just hope that they let me live in prison. If I see somebody going down the same road that I’ve been going down, maybe I could say something to change his mind. ’Cause I’ve been there.″

In another interview, Roach said he would go willingly to his death.

″Won’t nobody have to drag me in there,″ he said, adding that he wouldn’t give prosecutors ″the satisfaction.″

Roach pleaded guilty to the 1977 murders of Carlotta Hartness, 14, and Tommy Taylor, 17. The Columbia teen-agers were attacked as they sat in a car at a park near their high school.

Taylor was shot in the face and Miss Hartness was taken to nearby woods, raped, shot in the back of the head and mutilated.

Roach, a native of Seneca, denied shooting the couple, blaming it on Shaw.

He said in his final statement, ″To the families of the victims, my heart is still with you in your sorrow. May you forgive me, just as I know that my Lord has done.″

David Bruck, a member of Roach’s defense team, said on ″Nightline″ that the murder of the teen-agers was ″horrible.″

″But it seems to me that if all the world except the United States has already turned its back on the execution of juvenile offenders who aren’t retarded like Terry is, then the United States has no need to go on with this business of brandishing the electric chair at its own children.″

Solicitor Jim Anders, who prosecuted the case, said on the same program that Roach was only months from his 18th birthday when the crimes were committed and knew right from wrong.

″I think that when people are this mean, this cruel, there is no other way to deal with them,″ Anders said.

While South Carolina law does not forbid the execution of minors, age is considered in sentencing. A bill outlawing the execution of minor offenders is pending in the state Senate.

https://apnews.com/article/ac5920fb296ed8e76f35d58d845d1d22

Anthony Woods South Carolina Death Row

Anthony Woods was sentenced to death by the State of South Carolina for the sexual assault and murder of Joanne Dubose. According to court documents Anthony Woods would break into the home of Joanne Dubose who would be sexually assaulted and murdered before having her home robbed. Anthony Woods would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

South Carolina Death Row Inmate List

Anthony Woods 2021 Information

Admission Date: 12/08/2006

Location: Broad River

Anthony Woods More News

Joanne Dubose, a fifty-three year old Manning school teacher, was last seen alive on Monday, June 2, 2003. When Dubose did not answer telephone calls for several days, a friend went to check on her Wednesday evening, June 4, 2003, and found Dubose lying on her bed, face up, with blood running off the side of her face. The friend called 911, and police arrived to find Dubose dead, with a sheet tied around her neck, and her right arm tied down; her legs were spread under the sheet, her tongue was protruding from her mouth, and her face was beginning to decompose.

In the early morning hours of June 5, 2003, Woods was arrested in connection with a burglary the previous evening of the residence of Linda Taylor, another Clarendon County woman.¹ A shoeprint impression taken from the shoes Woods was wearing at the time of his arrest was ultimately determined to be consistent with a shoeprint lifted from the floor of Dubose’s bedroom. DNA testing on the mattress pad and sheet from Dubose’s bed revealed semen which matched Woods’ DNA profile. A pathologist determined Dubose died from asphyxiation due to strangulation, and that she had been dead for approximately two days, indicating she died on June 3, 2003. The pathologist found no evidence of sexual trauma, but testified decomposition could have affected the ability to detect such trauma.

Woods was indicted and charged with murder, first degree burglary, and first degree CSC. The state sought the death penalty based upon the aggravating circumstances of burglary and criminal sexual conduct. Woods’ first trial, utilizing a jury pool from Marion County, ended in a hung jury and a mistrial in September 2006. Upon retrial in December 2006, a jury was selected from Clarendon County, and Woods was convicted on all counts; the jury recommended a sentence of death.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/sc-supreme-court/1209476.html

John Wood South Carolina Death Row

John Wood was sentenced to death by the State of South Carolina for the murder of trooper Eric Nicholson. According to court documents John Wood after being pulled over for a traffic violation would shoot and kill trooper Eric Nicholson. John Wood would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

South Carolina Death Row Inmate List

John Wood 2021 Information

Admission Date: 02/16/2002

Location: Broad River

John Wood More News

Trooper Eric Nicholson, while patrolling I-85 in the Greenville area, called to inform the dispatcher that he was going to stop a moped. After Nicholson activated his lights and siren, appellant, who was riding the moped, did not immediately stop. Two other troopers subsequently heard Nicholson scream on the radio and they rushed to the scene whereupon they found Nicholson had been shot five times. The driver’s side window of Nicholson’s car was completely shattered. Both of his pistols were secured in their holsters. Eight shell casings were found at the scene.

There were several eyewitnesses to Nicholson’s murder. Witnesses recalled seeing a moped being followed by a trooper with activated lights and siren. The moped took the off-ramp to leave I-85 and then took a right down a frontage road. As the two vehicles got on the frontage road, the trooper sped up to get beside the moped and then veered to the left to stop at an angle against a raised median in order to block the moped’s progress. The moped came to a stop close to the driver’s side window.

Immediately upon stopping, appellant stood up over the moped and raised his arm towards the driver’s side window of Trooper Nicholson’s car. Some witnesses saw a weapon in appellant’s hand and heard gunshots. After firing several shots in the driver’s side window of Nicholson’s car, appellant backed the moped up, turned it around, and fled at a high rate of speed.

After the shooting, some concerned citizens (the Wheelers) chased appellant. Appellant entered a parking lot and then jumped into the passenger’s seat of a Jeep, driven by a woman. The Wheelers subsequently called in the tag number to police.

Once law enforcement officers began chasing the Jeep, appellant opened fire on the pursuing officers. One officer was struck in the face by a bullet fragment. He survived the injury. After subsequently hijacking a truck, appellant was eventually stopped and taken into custody.

The jury convicted appellant of murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime and sentenced him to death.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/sc-supreme-court/1292385.html

Louis Winkler South Carolina Death Row

Lous Winkler was sentenced to death by the State of South Carolina for the murder of Rebekah Grainger Winkler . According to court documents Louis Winkler would kidnap and sexually assault Rebekah Grainger Winkler. After he was arrested for these crimes he would be let out on jail on bond and proceed to murder Rebekah Grainger Winkler . Louis Winkler would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

South Carolina Death Row Inmate List

Louis Winkler 2021 Information

Admission Date: 02/08/2008

Location: Broad River

Louis Winkler More News

Appellant kidnapped and sexually assaulted Rebekah Grainger Winkler (Victim) on October 10, 2005, five months before Victim was murdered.² That evening, Appellant’s car was spotted behind the Seacoast Medical Center (Seacoast). Victim’s car was found off the road in some trees and appeared to have been wrecked. There was blood on both of Victim’s car seats, around the center console, and on the interior panel of the passenger’s side door. The Horry County Police Department activated its dog team in an attempt to locate two missing persons. Victim was later found next to Stephen’s Crossroads, which is where the magistrate’s complex and library is located.

Phyllis Richardson (Richardson) arrived at the parking lot at Stephen’s Crossroads around 7:30 a.m. on October 11, 2005, and saw a woman walking in the parking lot being followed by a man. Richardson noted the woman looked distraught and was acting confused, and that the man’s hands were in the air as if he were raging and irritated. Shortly after Richardson entered her office, she saw the woman from the parking lot on the phone in her office building. The woman’s hair was matted and tangled with some bald spots. Richardson later learned the woman making the call was Victim. Curtis Thompson was the first officer to arrive at the building, and noticed some of Victim’s hair looked like it had been ripped out, and she had black eyes, abrasions, and other scratches.

Victim was transported to Seacoast by EMS where Lisa Gore (Gore), a nurse at Seacoast, tended to Victim and noted her injuries to the left eye, some swelling in the jaw area, bruising around the neck, a fractured nose, an upper lip injury, redness under her right eye, corneal abrasions, multiple bruises and contusions, a bite mark to the face, and a large amount of hair removed from her head. A sexual assault kit was collected from Victim. The DNA found in the rectal and vaginal swabs from the sexual assault kit matched Appellant’s DNA.

On October 11, 2005, Louis Winkler was arrested for criminal sexual conduct, first degree, assault and battery with intent to kill, and kidnapping. Bond was initially denied; however, at a second bond hearing, Appellant’s bond was set at $150,000 and he was required to wear an electronic monitor while out on bond. At a third bond hearing, Appellant’s bond was amended to allow him to remove his electronic monitor for two hours so he could seek employment between the hours of 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Appellant was out of jail on bond on the day Victim was murdered.

At around 5:30 p.m. March 6, 2006, Louis Winkler kicked in the door to Victim’s condominium. Appellant knocked Victim’s son, Jonathan G. (Jonathan), onto the ground and then shot Victim once in the face at point blank range. According to the forensic pathologist who conducted Victim’s autopsy, death occurred instantly. Appellant then walked over and pointed the gun at Jonathan. Shortly thereafter, Appellant left the condominium.

Louis Winkler hid in the woods for two weeks. When police apprehended Appellant,³ they recovered a Jennings .380 pistol from his right front pants pocket. Five live rounds were found in the pistol, but there was not a live round in the port. During a full search of Appellant, police recovered eighteen rounds of .380 ammunition, a guard lock blade knife, and a wallet. In the wallet, there was a newspaper clipping about the shooting and murder.

Louis Winkler was tried and found guilty of murder, first-degree burglary, and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. At trial, the State sought to establish two statutory aggravating circumstances: (1) the murder was committed during the commission of a burglary; and (2) the murder was of a witness or potential witness committed at any time during the criminal process for the purpose of impeding or deterring prosecution of any crime. S.C.Code Ann. § 16-3-20(C)(a)(1)(c), (C)(a)(11) (2003 & Supp.2009). The jury recommended that Louis Winkler be sentenced to death.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/sc-supreme-court/1535321.html

James Wilson South Carolina Death Row

James Wilson was sentenced to death by the State of South Carolina for a school shooting that left two students dead. According to court documents James Wilson would enter Oakland Elementary School where he would kill Shequila Bradley and Tequila Thomas, both eight years old. Seven other students were injured as well as two teachers. James Wilson would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

South Carolina Death Row Inmate List

James Wilson 2021 Information

Admission Date: 05/11/1989

Location: Broad River

James Wilson More News

Ellie Hodge smiled at the shooter as he walked in.

The first-grade teacher sat across from one of her students, keeping a watchful eye on the bustling cafeteria. A hundred students sat at their tables, eating their lunches that September afternoon in 1988.

“I thought he was a parent,” Hodge said, still incredulous years later at her naivete.”A young parent, but I was new.”

It was her sixth week at Oakland Elementary School. She didn’t know all the parents yet. So, she smiled.

That’s when 19-year-old James Wilson Jr. opened fire.

Hodge doesn’t remember the gun; she only remembers being shot. The bullet entered the side of her hand. The student across the table looked at her, wide-eyed. Hodge, confused, thought the little boy had thrown a ketchup packet at her.

Back then, the term “school shooting” didn’t exist. It was unimaginable, which is why it took Hodge a moment to realize the situation.

Then she started to scream for students to run.

Lashonda Burt sat further down Hodge’s table when the chaos began. The 7-year-old was shot and immediately blacked out. When she came to, she searched for her teacher.

“I remember Miss Hodge waving at me to come to her,” Burt-Reeder, now married and still living in Greenwood, said. “She was actually shot again in that moment.”

The second bullet entered Hodge’s right shoulder and lodged in her left, bypassing her spine by millimeters.

A cafeteria employee pulled Hodge, Lashonda, and another student into a cafeteria freezer. Hodge told the children to run. Lashonda fled out a side door with other kids, not realizing she had been shot until someone saw the blood on her clothing.

“When I looked down at my arm and my shirt, I saw all the blood,” she said, recalling the moments before she passed out again.

Inside the building, Wilson reloaded the handgun – a nine-shot .22 caliber revolver he stole from his grandparents – in a bathroom down the hall from the cafeteria.

He soon moved to a third-grade classroom and began shooting, killing eight-year old Shequila Bradley and injuring six others, including Tequila Thomas.

Tequila would never regain consciousness.

Shots, then panic

Across town, Chief Jim Coursey sat in his office at the Greenwood Police Department. The scanner crackled as he spoke with a SLED agent. The chief’s ears perked up.

“I remember telling him, ‘I got to go, there’s been a shooting at one of my schools,” Coursey said.

Maj. Urban Mitchell heard the same call in his car as he drove around town. He arrived within seconds on the school grounds, which had filled with dozens of cars and frantic parents.

Three decades later, Maj. Mitchell marvels at how quickly ordinary people arrived at the scene.

“Believe it or not, word had still gotten out, and there were parents arriving just immediately after I got there,” he said.

Mitchell rushed around the back of the school where he found another investigator holding Wilson at gunpoint. The officer had captured the shooter after he climbed out a bathroom window. The police chief drove up as the two took Wilson into custody.

Both describe the scene as chaotic; sheriff’s deputies and SLED agents rushing in, teachers and children bleeding, parents screaming for answers.

Telephone calls heightened the madness; parents who didn’t make it to the scene frantically called the school. A secretary from SLED, along with Coursey’s personal assistant, came to Oakland Elementary and helped answer the calls.

“To hear that panic,” Mitchell said, trailing off in thought. He then summed it up in one word: “Unbelievable.”

A close-knit community that still remembers

The names of Shequila Bradley and Tequila Thomas are etched into granite markers in a small memorial garden behind the school, which now bears the name Eleanor S. Rice Elementary in honor of the principal who guided the school out of the tragedy.

The town renamed the school in her honor after she died in 2010. A plaque outside the school’s front office describes Rice’s leadership in the shooting’s aftermath as “heroic.” Coursey doesn’t know what the town would have done without her guidance.

September 26, 2018, will mark 30 years since Wilson opened fire and took Shequila and Tequila from this world. Wilson had no ties to Oakland Elementary. He lived with his grandparents, and relatives described him as a “hyper-recluse” to The State newspaper. He is incarcerated on death row at Kirkland Correctional Institution in Columbia.

In those three decades, not much has changed about the city of Greenwood. It currently has 23,222 residents and counting, with major chains and stores in its center, up from its 21,613 population in 1980. Tiny shops line Main Street in an renovated arts and culture district now known as Uptown Greenwood. Their owners remember customers’ names, their food orders and family ties.

“It’s a close-knit community,” Mitchell said.

It’s a community that still remembers the two youngsters who lost their lives and those who still carry psychic wounds from that day.

One Greenwood business owner teared up as he talked about Kat Finkbeiner, the physical education teacher who confronted Wilson as he reloaded in the bathroom. When she tried to stop him, he shot her in the mouth and hand.

Finkbeiner survived and was hailed as a hero.

Even three decades later, those who witnessed the aftermath of the shooting continue to live with the effects.

“This was a bad day,” Coursey said. He took a moment to collect himself before he admitted, “I still dream about it.”

Coursey, now retired after six years on the force, calls himself “a big Second Amendment person,” but he isn’t blind to the issue of guns in American society.

“What’s happening now…we’ve got to make some changes,” he said.

Hodge said she struggles to listen to news about the recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida that claimed the lives of 17 students. She has physical reminders: her left hand that fails to make a closed fist, and her PTSD that overrides her senses from time to time.

For the most part, however, Hodge can remember the tragedy without issue.

“It helps to talk about it,” she said.

Burt-Reeder flinches every time there is a call from her children’s school in the middle of the day. Her shoulder aches from time to time, but she views it as a reminder; if she hadn’t been eating at the time of the shot, the bullet would have gone through her neck.

Emotions run high whenever another school shooting leads the national news. There is a sense of being forgotten, the name of Oakland Elementary School lost in the modern wave of school shooting tragedies.

Even if the rest of the world forgets, Greenwood can’t.

“I forgive him for it, but I will never forget that he did that to me,” Burt-Reeder said.

Thirty years later, Greenwood still grieves over a school shooting