Trials of church shooter and former police officer captivated nation last year
By Jeffrey Collins
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — 2015 was supposed to be the uneasy year in South Carolina. The state was stunned by a videotaped police shooting of a fleeing black motorist, nine churchgoers killed in a hate crime, and a billion-dollar flood.
But then came 2016.
Along with two exhausting trials from the previous year’s killings, South Carolinians endured the fatal school shooting of a first-grader, a serial killer who police said chained a woman inside a container, and landfalling Hurricane Matthew, which flooded the state all over again.
So when Gov. Nikki Haley spoke at the celebration to light the state Christmas tree earlier this month, she thanked residents for their prayers and their faith, even as things seemed to go from bad to worse.
“Through all of that, we never fought. We never protested. We prayed. We found our faith. We hugged each other. We showed love and kindness and respect for each other,” Haley said.
Chances are Haley won’t be lighting the 2017 Christmas tree. Causing a final flurry of political turmoil, she accepted President-elect Donald Trump’s appointment to be ambassador to the United Nations, and plans to resign once the U.S. Senate confirms her appointment.
Here is a look at the stories that shook South Carolina in 2016:
—————
DYLANN ROOF TRIAL
The outcome was never in doubt. Dylann Roof’s lawyers didn’t dispute he killed nine black worshippers in a Charleston church in June 2015. And jurors took less than two hours earlier this month to find him guilty of 33 charges, including hate crimes.
Roof’s saga will go on into 2017. The same jurors who convicted him return Jan. 3 to decide whether he should spend his life in prison or be executed. And Roof is charged with nine counts of murder in state court, where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
—————
MICHAEL SLAGER TRIAL
The murder trial of former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager failed to resolve his fate.
A jury couldn’t reach a verdict over several days of deliberation in November after weeks of testimony on Slager’s shooting of Walter Scott, an unarmed black motorist who tried to run from a traffic stop in April 2015.
Slager said he feared for his life because Scott grabbed his Taser as he resisted arrest. African-American community leaders said that was no excuse to fire eight shots at the back of a man who was nearly 20 feet away.
State prosecutor Scarlett Wilson promised another murder trial of Slager, who also is charged in federal court with violating Scott’s civil rights.
—————
UPSTATE TRAGEDIES
Within five weeks, Upstate South Carolina dealt with a pair of stunning crimes.
First, a 14-year-old boy shot and killed his father, then drove to Townville Elementary School in Anderson County and shot at first-graders out for recess. Six-year-old Jacob Hall died a few days later.
Prosecutors are still deciding whether to ask to try the teen as an adult.
In November, Spartanburg County suddenly discovered they may have had a serial killer living among them. Real estate agent Todd Kohlepp was arrested after a woman was found chained in a container on his property, authorities said.
Within days, Kohlepp confessed to killing seven people — the chained woman’s boyfriend, another couple and four people at a motorcycle shop in 2003, authorities said.
—————
HURRICANE MATTHEW
The massive Category 4 storm weakened before brushing the South Carolina coast in October, but it was still powerful enough to kill five people, mostly because of floods caused by up to a foot of rain in the northeast part of the state.
Beaufort County also was hard hit, with thousands of trees knocked down and exclusive gated communities thinking about charging residents thousands of dollars each to cover cleanup costs.
—————
NEW GOVERNOR
Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential race shook up South Carolina politics in ways that may be felt for the next decade.
Haley’s acceptance of the U.N. ambassador job likely will elevate Trump’s first and biggest South Carolina supporter, Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster, to the governor’s office.
That means McMaster can run as an incumbent for what was expected to be an open governor’s seat in 2018. Already, potential candidates for that race are changing plans.
As for who takes McMaster’s job, that dispute will likely be decided in the state Supreme Court.
