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Our media outlet reported yesterday (August 12, 2024) on a lawsuit filed against the Sumter County, South Carolina sheriff’s office in connection with a violent attack that occurred last fall at the Sumter-Lee regional detention center in Mulberry, S.C.
We noted the sheriff’s office was being sued for “gross negligence” as a result of the attack, in which one detainee stands accused of viciously beating another – and then stabbing him in the eye with a homemade ‘shank.’
The alleged assailant – James Edward Bell – was charged with first degree assault and battery following the stabbing.
If Bell’s name sounds familiar, it should… he’s facing a death penalty rap out of Florence County, S.C. in connection with a brutal cop killing.
Shortly before 6:00 a.m. EST on the morning of Sunday, January 5, 2020, Jackson Ryan Winkeler – a 26-year-old public safety officer at the Florence regional airport – initiated a traffic stop on a Chrysler 200 on airport property. During that stop, Bell – the driver of the vehicle – is accused of savagely gunning Winkeler down and fleeing the scene.
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Winkeler, a native of Dillon, S.C. sustained nearly a dozen wounds. Thirty spent shell casings – and an empty nine millimeter handgun – were found on the scene. Winkeler’s service weapon had also been stolen from him. Bell was arrested later that same day – and a search of his vehicle not only turned up Winkeler’s gun but “a magazine consistent with the additional handgun” discovered near the officer’s body.
Bell was subsequently charged with murder, armed robbery, discharging a firearm into a vehicle and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime by the office of S.C. twelfth circuit solicitor Ed Clements. Last May, Clements office announced its intention to seek the death penalty against Bell – a decision which now has some teeth attached to it thanks to a recent S.C. supreme court ruling.
The court’s decision – announced two weeks ago – has paved the way for executions in the Palmetto State to resume.
No executions have taken place in South Carolina since May of 2011, and prosecutors have typically refrained from seeking the death penalty in high profile cases because of its lack of availability. With the high court now approving three methods of capital punishment, the clock is officially re-ticking 32 inmates on South Carolina’s death row.
Also, solicitors who may have been reluctant to pursue death penalty cases in the past might now be more inclined to do so.
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South Carolina provides for the death penalty in murder cases in the event a “statutory aggravating circumstance is found beyond a reasonable doubt.” These aggravating circumstances are specifically enumerated in the S.C. Code of Laws (§ 16-3-20) – and are determined on a case-by-case basis in proceedings held separately from the murder trial once a guilty plea or verdict has been entered into the record.
One of those aggravating circumstances? Killing a police officer during the discharge of their official duties.
Bell is represented by attorney Boyd Young, the chief lawyer for the capital trial division of the S.C. Commission on Indigent Defense (SCCID). This agency exists to provide “legal representation to indigent defendants charged with criminal offenses in the courts of the state.”
My media outlet has always supported a robust indigent defense capability as a key component of our judicial system – which is consistent with the constitutionally guaranteed presumption of innocence all defendants should receive. Unfortunately, SCCID has been notoriously anti-transparent in recent high-profile cases, seeking to block the release of documents that courts have previously ruled are public records.
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The agency’s director, Hugh Ryan III, has also stood against meaningful reform of South Carolina’s corrupt method of judicial selection. Last December, Ryan testified before a House panel debating judicial reform bills, telling them it was “very important” for the legislature to maintain its starring role in this process.
Ryan also rebuked criticism of the current system – and specifically criticism of lawyer-legislators – saying the public “doesn’t understand what really goes on.”
Really?
Obviously, the current system is working very well for the hoodlums Ryan is protecting… but it is most assuredly not working for crime victims (or for the safety of the public).
As for solicitor Clements, I’ve criticized him in the past for falling (well) short of justice in pursuing cases against criminals, but his pursuit of the death penalty against Bell is a step in the right direction.
Bottom line: South Carolina needs to start taking violent crime way more seriously – and I’m not just talking about its judges or the lawmakers who appoint them. Prosecutors are often part of the problem, too, and they need to be held accountable when they fail to hold the line.
Simply put, if a murder investigation generates incontrovertible proof not only of the crime – but the presence of one of the aggravating factors allowing for the death penalty to be sought – then prosecutors should seek it.
South Carolina has coddled killers and rapists for far too long. It’s time to flip the script and start putting their victims – and our communities – first for a change.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the owner and founding editor of FITSNews. Prior to founding his own news outlet, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina, bass guitarist in an alternative rock band and bouncer at a Columbia, S.C. dive bar. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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