imported post
Taken from:
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/142/story/373342.html
http://www.scnow.com/midatlantic/scp/news.apx.-content-articles-BTW-2008-03-05-0006.html
A judge sentenced 49-year-old Billy Nathan Lee to life in prison for the murder of Carma Russell, his estranged girlfriend, outside an Atlantic Beach church on March 4, 2006.
Lee had several prior convictions including an assault charge against a North Carolina woman in 1975, and several convictions out of Georgetown County that included burglaries, robberies, and grand larcenies that Lee served 12 years of a 20 year sentence for. Lee was released from the South Carolina Department of Corrections in May of 2005.
Lee said he made a promise to his mother during his prison stay that he would turn his life around and promised her he'd never go to prison again and testified he found a way to turn his life around with Russell and her three children.
Lee became emotional when he recalled the early days of his relationship with Russell, then started blaming another woman for coming between him and Russell. The other woman happens to be Russell's pastor, Rev. Wendy Price, pastor of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church on 30th Avenue in Atlantic Beach. Lee testified that Price tried to break the two up, and was successful; a week before her death, Russell and her children moved out of an apartment they had shared with Lee.
Lee admitted to getting the .380 caliber handgun from an Atlantic Beach man the day of the shooting, who, according to Solicitor Scott Hixson, is a drug dealer.
Lee testified Tuesday he went to the church on the night of the shooting to talk with Russell. Lee said taking a gun with him was "a stupid mistake" and that Russell was killed when it accidentally fired. Lee testified he took the handgun with him that night to scare Russell, not to kill her.
Detectives said Lee called Russell over to his van, which was parked in the church parking lot. Assistant solicitor, Scott Hickson told jurors that Lee held a gun to Russell's face, and after the gun failed to fire the first time he pulled the trigger again.
"I did not intentionally kill Carma," he said. "I did a stupid act, but I did not intentionally kill her. I still have a place in my heart for the four children because they mean so much to me."
Horry County Cpl. Joseph Neff testified that he responded to a call of shots fired and a possible victim. Prosecutors showed dash camera video to jurors that showed Lee, with his hands raised, walking up to Neff. "I did it. I'm the shooter," Neff testified Lee said.
Lee told jurors that he made a bad decision that night, but he was not a killer and the gun went off accidentally.
Tuesday afternoon, prosecutors rested their case following testimony from expert witnesses and a member of the church who testified she saw Lee fighting with Russell seconds before the shooting.
Lee, who was animated Tuesday while testifying that the shooting was unintentional, and tearfully asked for forgiveness before his sentence was read, showed no emotion when Circuit Judge Steven John read his sentence.
The slaying was one of three killings attributed to domestic violence in Horry and Georgetown counties in a four-day period.
Louis "Mick" Winkler of Little River was sentenced to death on Feb. 8 after a jury found him guilty of killing his estranged wife, Rebekah Winkler, on March 6, 2006, in her condominium.
Vladimir Pantovich of Murrells Inlet received an 18-year prison sentence after a jury found him guilty of manslaughter on Feb. 8 for killing his girlfriend with a baseball bat on March 7, 2006.
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Comment: Several states prohibit legal gun owners from being defensively armed at church, even if they possess a state-issued carry permit. This is yet another case that shows how foolish such laws are.
Taken from:
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/142/story/373342.html
http://www.scnow.com/midatlantic/scp/news.apx.-content-articles-BTW-2008-03-05-0006.html
A judge sentenced 49-year-old Billy Nathan Lee to life in prison for the murder of Carma Russell, his estranged girlfriend, outside an Atlantic Beach church on March 4, 2006.
Lee had several prior convictions including an assault charge against a North Carolina woman in 1975, and several convictions out of Georgetown County that included burglaries, robberies, and grand larcenies that Lee served 12 years of a 20 year sentence for. Lee was released from the South Carolina Department of Corrections in May of 2005.
Lee said he made a promise to his mother during his prison stay that he would turn his life around and promised her he'd never go to prison again and testified he found a way to turn his life around with Russell and her three children.
Lee became emotional when he recalled the early days of his relationship with Russell, then started blaming another woman for coming between him and Russell. The other woman happens to be Russell's pastor, Rev. Wendy Price, pastor of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church on 30th Avenue in Atlantic Beach. Lee testified that Price tried to break the two up, and was successful; a week before her death, Russell and her children moved out of an apartment they had shared with Lee.
Lee admitted to getting the .380 caliber handgun from an Atlantic Beach man the day of the shooting, who, according to Solicitor Scott Hixson, is a drug dealer.
Lee testified Tuesday he went to the church on the night of the shooting to talk with Russell. Lee said taking a gun with him was "a stupid mistake" and that Russell was killed when it accidentally fired. Lee testified he took the handgun with him that night to scare Russell, not to kill her.
Detectives said Lee called Russell over to his van, which was parked in the church parking lot. Assistant solicitor, Scott Hickson told jurors that Lee held a gun to Russell's face, and after the gun failed to fire the first time he pulled the trigger again.
"I did not intentionally kill Carma," he said. "I did a stupid act, but I did not intentionally kill her. I still have a place in my heart for the four children because they mean so much to me."
Horry County Cpl. Joseph Neff testified that he responded to a call of shots fired and a possible victim. Prosecutors showed dash camera video to jurors that showed Lee, with his hands raised, walking up to Neff. "I did it. I'm the shooter," Neff testified Lee said.
Lee told jurors that he made a bad decision that night, but he was not a killer and the gun went off accidentally.
Tuesday afternoon, prosecutors rested their case following testimony from expert witnesses and a member of the church who testified she saw Lee fighting with Russell seconds before the shooting.
Lee, who was animated Tuesday while testifying that the shooting was unintentional, and tearfully asked for forgiveness before his sentence was read, showed no emotion when Circuit Judge Steven John read his sentence.
The slaying was one of three killings attributed to domestic violence in Horry and Georgetown counties in a four-day period.
Louis "Mick" Winkler of Little River was sentenced to death on Feb. 8 after a jury found him guilty of killing his estranged wife, Rebekah Winkler, on March 6, 2006, in her condominium.
Vladimir Pantovich of Murrells Inlet received an 18-year prison sentence after a jury found him guilty of manslaughter on Feb. 8 for killing his girlfriend with a baseball bat on March 7, 2006.
-----------------
Comment: Several states prohibit legal gun owners from being defensively armed at church, even if they possess a state-issued carry permit. This is yet another case that shows how foolish such laws are.