Jury selection opens today in Phelon slayings

Court officials travel to Beaufort County, S.C., to select panel for deah-penalty case

Web posted Monday, January 22, 2001

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By Greg Rickabaugh
South Carolina Bureau

Arthur Hastings Wise faces four charges of murder in the slayings at Aiken's Phelon plant in 1997. FILE

Jury selection will begin in Beaufort, S.C., this morning in the death-penalty trial of Arthur Hastings Wise, the ex-employee accused of killing four workers at Aiken R.E. Phelon Co. parts plant in 1997.

More than 100 Beaufort County residents are expected to apear in General Sessions Court. Although 300 were summoned for jury duty, Circuit Judge Thomas W. Cooper Jr. already has excused several dozen people for medical problems, hardships on their family or other reasons.

In addition, not everyone answers a court summons, Beaufort County Clerk of Court Elizabeth Smith said.

"It's like a giant cocktail party. You always expect a third of the people to send regrets," she said.

The jury is being selected in the Lowcountry because Judge Cooper agreed to a change of venue, ruling that in impartial jury could not be picked in Aiken County because of the "unprecedented public attention and media coverage," the killings received.

Mr. Wise, 46, is accused of opening fire at the Aiken parts plant Sept. 15, 1997. Authorities say the suspect had been fired from the plant two months earlier.

Judge Cooper selected Beaufort County because of its similarities to Aiken County. In an October hearing, he narrowed his choices to Anderson, Beaufort, Berkeley and York counties, saying he would compare demographic information provided by the state Budget and Control Board.

OTHER STORIES: • Phelon's long wait nears end • Key players in the Wise trial • Selection of jurors discussed • Phelon jurors will come from Lowcountry • Change of venue gets OK • Phelon Co. killings trial delayed • Phelon suit says threat was known • Gag order imposed in Wise case • State to make bid for death • Shooting suspect indicted • Tragedy promotes positive action • Man charged after Phelon killings • Investigators still looking for `whys' in Phelon shooting • Shooting suspect held up • R.E. Phelon Shootings Map & Timeline • Co-workers ignored threats • Workers struggle with grief • Neighbors had few indications • 4 killed in Aiken County shooting; suspect caught by SWAT team

Aiken County has a 24.2 percent black population; Beaufort has 28.4 percent. Aiken County's 1998 per capita income was $23,627; Beaufort's was $30,765.

The educational levels are similar, with 32.5 percent of Aiken County's residents having a high school diploma and 11 percent having a bachelor's degree; Beaufort County has 31.3 percent with a high school diploma and 15.8 percent with a bachelor's degree.

Beaufort County is composed of several islands, including Hilton Head Island, Hunting Island and Fripp Island. The county courthouse, where dozens of potential jurors will be interviewed, is located in the city of Beaufort, which is known for its homes and moss-draped trees.

"The idea in going to Beaufort, of course, is to pick people who don't know anything about this case of know very little about it," Judge Cooper said. "Hopefully, in HIlton Head and in Beaufort.....a lot of the folks move in and out of there so quickly, most of the folks may not have been living in South Carolina when this thing happened."

Second Circuit Solicitor Barbara R. Morgan and defense attorneys Carl B. Grant and Gregory Harlow will spend the next few days narrowing down the jury pool to 12 jurors and a few alternates, forming a panel that will be taken to Aiken for the trial. Jurors will be sequestered in a hotel for the duration of the trial.

Judge Cooper siad he expects the jury selection to last no more than a few days. Once the panel is selected, he said, he wants to get the trial under way as quickly as possible, working 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on weekends, he said.

"The jurors have to be separated from their families," the judge said. "They are just in a motel in a strange town, and so once we get started, we work straight through."

Mr. Wise is charged with four counts of murder, three counts of assault with intent to kill, four counts of possession of a gun while committing a violent crime, and burglary. Sheryl Wood, 27; David Moore, 30; Leonard Filyaw, 31; and Charles Griffeth, 50, were killed in the shooting. Those who were wounded were Jerry Corley, John Mucha and Stan Vance.

Reach Greg Rickabaugh at (803) 648-1395 or greg.rickabaugh@augustachronicle.com.

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