Murder trials fill calendar

Web posted March 22, 1998

By Kathy Steele
South Carolina Bureau

AIKEN -- A full calendar of high-profile murder trials awaits the 2nd Circuit this year, and at least three of the cases could end in the death penalty.

A fourth capital murder case, that of the man accused of killing four R.E. Phelon Co. employees, likely won't be heard until 1999. This year's calendar is crammed with defendants ahead of him on the trial docket.

The 2nd Circuit consists of Aiken, Barnwell and Bamberg counties.

First up for Solicitor Barbara Morgan will be David McClure on April 20.

A jury pool of 250 people has been notified to report for duty on that date in Barnwell County.

Mr. McClure is accused of stabbing to death his father, David McClure Sr., 39, and his father's girlfriend, Donna Fitzpatrick, 31. The couple was found stabbed to death inside their Williston home Jan. 23, 1996.

The younger McClure was arrested one month later at Set Free Christian Discipleship Ranch, near San Berardino, Calif. Police described the ranch as a drug-rehabilitation facility.

In December, Mr. McClure escaped from the custody of a Barnwell County deputy while being transported to a Columbia hospital for a mental evaluation.

He was recaptured within hours, but his brief freedom caused major headaches for the courts, which had to reschedule his evaluation. As a result, Mr. McClure's trial date of Jan. 26 was canceled, and he was given the April trial date previously owned by David Mark Hill.

The solicitor's office is looking tentatively at a June date for Mr. Hill's trial, but it could come as late as September.

A pretrial motion hearing is set for March 31.

Mr. Hill was arrested and charged in the shooting deaths of three caseworkers with the Aiken County Department of Social Services. All three -- Josie Curry, 35, Michael Gregory, 30, and Jimmy Riddle, 52 -- were killed at the branch office in North Augusta on Sept. 16, 1996.

Ms. Morgan also has the trial of John Gregory Braxton to fit into the court's docket. His trial also will carry a potential death penalty if he is found guilty.

Mr. Braxton of Elko was charged in April 1997 in connection with the shooting death of convenience store clerk Melissa ``Missy'' Griffiths. The 30-year-old mother of two was found lying in a field off U.S. Highway 78, dead from multiple gunshot wounds.

Mr. Braxton is also charged with armed robbery, kidnapping, and possession of a pistol during commission of a crime.

Other murder cases pending include the death of pawn shop owner Carlton Ennis. Four teen-agers were arrested and charged with the crime. No decision has been made on whether to seek the death penalty against any of the defendants, all of whom will be tried as adults.

The teens are Curtiss Bruce Vance Kesl, then 19, Ae Khingratsaiphon, 17, Kai Wang, 16, and James Vang, 16, all of North Carolina.

Mr. Ennis, 57, was found shot to death June 23 in the video-poker room at Southside Pawn and Gold on Owens Street.

Also, John Augusta Parkes of Aiken and Alfred Cable, Marion, N.C., face murder charges in connection with the death June 25 of Mr. Parkes' 77-year-old mother, Kelliroe Parkes.