Shooting suspect indicted

Web posted August 28, 1998

By Kathy Steele
South Carolina Bureau

AIKEN -- Nearly one year after four employees of R.E. Phelon Co. were shot to death, the man accused of killing them has been indicted by an Aiken County grand jury.

Arthur Hastings Wise is on the court docket for the first time for the General Sessions court term beginning Monday. No trial date is set.

Mr. Wise, 44, was indicted on four counts of murder, four counts of possession of a firearm while committing a violent crime, three counts of assault and battery with intent to kill and second-degree burglary.

Solicitor Barbara Morgan has said she will consider asking for the death penalty if Mr. Wise is convicted. But at this stage nothing is filed with the courts on the matter.

He has a court-appointed attorney representing him. If a motion is filed to seek the death penalty, state law requires that a second attorney be appointed to assist in Mr. Wise's defense.

On Sept. 15 at about 3 p.m., police say, Mr. Wise shot security guard Lt. Stan Vance at the plant's front gate

and walked into the plant where he opened fire on employees.

Four workers -- Sheryl Wood, 27, David Moore, 30, Leonard Filyaw, 30, and Charles Griffeth, 56 -- were killed. Besides Mr. Vance, two others were also wounded, Jerry Corley and John Mucha.

About two hours after the shooting, police found Mr. Wise in an upstairs quality assurance office. A 9 mm semiautomatic gun was recovered.

Mr. Wise had swallowed an unknown substance and complained of being nauseated. He was taken to Aiken Regional Medical Centers in critical condition but quickly recovered.

Mr. Wise is being held in ``safe keeper'' status at the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville.