Key players in the Wise trial

Web posted Sunday, January 21, 2001

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 Phelon's long wait nears end

By Greg Rickabaugh
South Carolina Bureau

The names and faces of the Arthur Hastings Wise trial

Defendant

Arthur Hastings Wise

Charged with killing four workers and injuring three others at R.E. Phelon Co. in Aiken on Sept. 15, 1997. Authorities say he had been fired from the plant two months earlier for being aggressive with a supervisor. He also had been turned down for several other positions he wanted in the plant. The North Augusta man, who stands well over 6 feet tall, spent time in prison for bank robbery and receiving stolen goods, but he earned a technical degree and found work after his release. He had worked at the Phelon plant five years before his termination.

Judge Thomas W. Coooper, Jr. will preside over the Arthur Hastings Wise trial. RON COCKERILLE/STAFF

Presiding judge

Thomas W. Cooper Jr.

Will oversee the trial, rule on motions, objections and ultimately hand down any sentence. Judge Cooper, 59, has overseen seven death penalty trials, sending four people convicted of murder to death row. The judge, from Manning, was assigned to preside over the Wise trial in 2000.

Defense attorney

Gregory Harlow

A private attorney the court appointed to represent Mr. Wise. The 36-year-old is lead counsel and has worked as a criminal attorney for 10 years. He was second chair in the capital murder trial of Donnie Council, who was charged in the 1992 torture killing of an elderly Aiken County woman.

Defense attorney

Carl B. Grant

Second chair on the defense team. The 40-year-old has practiced law for 15 years, including five years in the Army with the Judge Advocate General Corps. In his only death penalty case, he won a full acquittal for Maurice Duley of Orangeburg, who had been charged with the 1993 armed robbery and murder of Calhoun-Orangeburg Vocational Education Center administrator and business owner Franklin Glover. The victim was found shot twice in his store, but prosecutors had only one witness against Mr. Duley. Mr. Grant appeared with his client on Donahue and Leeza to talk about the case.

Gregory Harlow-lead councel for Arthur Hastings Wise. RON COCKERILLE/STAFF

2nd Circuit Solicitor

Barbara R. Morgan

Will argue the case to the jury, question the state's witnesses and cross-examine defense witnesses. Ms. Morgan has prosecuted five casesthat resulted in death sentences.

The victims

Sheryl Wood

Quality assurance employee

Ms. Wood was shot three times and died in the plant's rear parking lot. The 27-year-old from Bath was a 1988 graduate of Midland Valley High School, where she played basketball, volleyball and softball. She was survived by her mother and father, a brother, five sisters and her grandmother.

Charles Griffeth

Human resources director

Mr. Griffeth, 50, was the first person killed. He was in his office when he was shot twice. Mr. Griffeth, of Lexington, was responsible for firing and hiring at the company. Police say they believe he was targeted because the suspect had been fired two months before the shootings. Mr. Griffeth had worked at Phelon about six months.

Leonard Filyaw

Tool and die machinist

Mr. Filyaw, 30, was shot at his work station. The Warrenville man had been engaged for two weeks when he was killed. He was a 1985 graduate of Silver Bluff High School and liked to collect guns. He was survived by his parents, two sisters and his maternal grandparents.

David Moore

Tool and die machinist

Mr. Moore, 30, was shot twice at his work station. An Aiken resident, he had a fiancee when he was killed. He was a member of Holiness Church. He was survived by his parents, a brother and sister and his maternal grandparents.

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