Phelon jurors will come from Lowcountry

Web posted Thursday, November 23, 2000

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By Greg Rickabaugh
South Carolina Bureau

AIKEN - Residents from the Lowcountry of South Carolina will decide the fate of Arthur Hastings Wise, charged with killing four workers and injuring three others in a 1997 shooting spree at the R.E. Phelon Co. plant in Aiken.

Circuit Judge Thomas W. Cooper Jr. has selected Beaufort County as the area from which to pick a jury in Mr. Wise's death penalty trial. Selection will start Jan. 22.

Arthur Hastings Wise, 43 FILE/STAFF

After 12 jurors and a few alternates are selected, the Beaufort County jurors will be transported to Aiken and sequestered in a hotel for the duration of the trial. If the jurors find Mr. Wise guilty, they must remain to decide whether he should be sentenced to die for the crimes.

Mr. Wise, 46, is charged in the workplace slayings of four Phelon plant employees: Sheryl Wood, 27;, David Moore, 30; Leonard Filyaw, 30; and Charles Griffeth, 56. The wounded include Jerry Corley, John Mucha and Stan Vance.

Two months before the killings, Mr. Wise had been fired from the plant for insubordination and for creating a disturbance.

Judge Cooper ordered a change of venue in the case last month, saying a fair and impartial jury could not be selected from Aiken County because of the ``unprecedented public attention and media coverage'' the killings received.

In his court order, the judge noted that the Phelon shooting spree occurred Sept. 15, 1997, one year after David Mark Hill shot down three caseworkers at the Aiken County Department of Social Services.

Pretrial publicity in the Hill case made it impossible to seat an unbiased jury, leading the trial judge to order a change of venue to York County. The York jury sentenced Mr. Hill to die for the crimes.

``This (Wise) case has attracted even more attention than the DSS case,'' Judge Cooper wrote in his order. ``Therefore to avoid a needless expense and futility of attempting to select a fair, unbiased and impartial jury from Aiken County, the Solicitor has consented to the change of venue, so long as the jury is selected from a venue demographically comparable to Aiken County in terms of racial make up, income and education.''

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

Aiken County has a 24.2 percent black population; Beaufort has 28.4. Aiken County has a 1998 per capita income level of $23,627; Beaufort has $30,765. The educational levels are similar, with Aiken County having 32.5 percent of residents with a high school degree and 11.0 with bachelor's degrees; Beaufort County has 31.3 percent with a high school diploma and 15.8 with bachelor's degrees.

Anchoring the state of South Carolina, Beaufort County comprises several islands, including Hilton Head, Hunting and Fripp. The county courthouse, where dozens of potential jurors will be interviewed, is located in the city of Beaufort, which is known for antebellum homes and Spanish moss-draped trees.

Mr. Wise is charged with four counts of murder, four counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, three counts of assault and battery with intent to kill, and one count of second-degree burglary. Second Circuit Solicitor Barbara R. Morgan is prosecuting the case.

Reach Greg Rickabaugh at (803) 279-6895.

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