Change of venue gets OK

Judge grants approval to motion to draw jury from outside Aiken boundaries in Wise slaying case

Web posted October 21, 2000

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By Greg Rickabaugh
South Carolina Bureau

AIKEN - Jurors from outside Aiken County will sit in judgment of slaying suspect Arthur Hastings Wise once his death penalty trial begins Jan. 22, a judge ordered Friday.

In a pretrial hearing, Circuit Judge Thomas W. Cooper Jr. set the trial date and agreed with the prosecution's decision not to fight a defense motion for a change of venue to another county. Second Circuit Solicitor Barbara R. Morgan wanted to avoid another delay in the trial of Mr. Wise, 46, charged in a killing spree at R.E. Phelon Co. on Sept. 15, 1997, that left four workers dead.

A similar trial involving another workplace massacre was delayed three months last year because pretrial publicity tainted the jury pool and made it impossible to seat a local jury. In the trial of David Mark Hill, jurors were eventually picked in York County and brought to Aiken County for trial.

That jury convicted Mr. Hill in February and sentenced him to death for the 1996 killings of three social service workers in North Augusta.

In court Friday, Ms. Morgan told the judge that given what happened in the Hill case, she hesitated to spend the time trying to find a jury in Aiken County that had not heard of the case or did not have a strong opinion. The solicitor said she had discussions with the victims and law enforcement before making the recommendation.

The next step will be to pick a county that matches the demographics of Aiken County, which could include Anderson, Beaufort, Berkeley or York counties. Those counties are similar in population, diversity, economics and education. The judge is expected to announce a county next week. When the jurors are selected,they will be brought to Aiken County for trial.

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 shootings. Those who were wounded include Jerry Corley, John Mucha and Stan Vance.

Authorities say Mr. Wise shot Mr. Vance, who was a security guard at the plant, and then walked through the plant shooting a semiautomatic handgun. He had been fired from the plant about two months earlier.

ReachGreg Rickabaugh at (803) 279-6895.

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