Rock Hill Criminal Defense Law Blog

On March 26, a South Carolina man was sentenced to prison on a gun charge after taking part in a live video stream that showed him packing marijuana for a drug deal. The 19-year-old is a resident of Walterboro.

According to authorities, in April 2017, the defendant broadcast a live video stream that showed him sitting in his car preparing packages of marijuana for a drug sale. The video, which was posted on a social media platform, also showed him with a shotgun and a rifle that resembled an AR-15. Two other individuals were in the car with him.

North Carolina residents may be charged with voluntary manslaughter if they are suspected of having intentionally killed someone without having any prior intent to commit the act. For the label of voluntary manslaughter to be applied, the factors that led to the killing would need to have affected a reasonable person to the degree that they became disturbed mentally and physically. If this condition is not present, the offender may be accused of murder in the first degree or second degree instead.

The offense of voluntary manslaughter is situated between murder, or the killing of someone with malicious intents, and the justified taking of a life, such as in self-defense. Voluntary manslaughter is distinct from involuntary manslaughter, which is defined as the killing of someone as a result of a non-felonious illegal act committed by an individual or that is caused by a careless or irresponsible person. The exact definition of voluntary manslaughter will vary depending on the state in which the crime took place.

A South Carolina mother of three was the tragic victim of a violent crime on Mother's Day in a case of mistaken identity. The 36-year-old woman was driving home after a Mother's Day celebration when someone began shooting at her car. Prosecutors stated the car was shot at because it looked like another vehicle that was involved in a shootout earlier in the day. The victim's vehicle hit a wall at a neighborhood gas station after she was shot in the neck. She was taken to the hospital, where she died a few hours later.

Police had been alerted to two cars racing down the street in a Charleston neighborhood shooting at each other. The shootout proceeded out of the residential area and onto Interstate 26, where one vehicle, a Chrysler, broke away and drove off. The woman who was shot and killed drove a vehicle similar to the one involved in the earlier shooting, and the perpetrators thought this was the car they were looking for.

A man who was 16 when he killed two people in 1988 in South Carolina originally received a life sentence without parole. However, a life sentence without parole for someone under 18 when a crime occurs has now been deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and courts at the state level. Expert testimony suggests that the brains of people that young are not fully developed.

The man acknowledged that he killed a 22-year-old woman and an 18-year-old man in Chester County 30 years ago. His attorney suggested that he had been rehabilitated during his time in prison. However, the prosecutor in the case said that the man has a violent history that should be taken into consideration when debating a new sentence.