Across South Carolina

Murderer gets death penalty for SC prison killing

ST. GEORGE, S.C. - An inmate already serving a life sentence for two murder convictions has been sentenced to death for killing a fellow prisoner behind bars.

The Post and Courier of Charleston reports that Circuit Judge Diane Goodstein handed down the death sentence to 41-year-old Kenneth Justus on Tuesday.

Authorities say Justus went into 22-year-old Justin Bregenzer's cell at the Lieber Correctional Institution in Ridgeville in July 2005 and stabbed him a dozen times with a makeshift knife.

Justus pleaded guilty to murder and put up no request for mercy, saying he wanted to die for his crimes.

Prosecutors say Justus robbed and killed two convenience store workers in Oconee County a decade ago.

SC Marine gets 5 years probation in fatal shooting

BEAUFORT, S.C. - A former Marine from the Air Station in Beaufort has been sentenced to five years probation after pleading guilty in the shooting death of a fellow Marine.

The Beaufort Gazette reports that a judge handed down the sentence on Dec. 18, the same day 21-year-old Patrick King pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter.

King was arrested in August after investigators said he shot Cpl. Tony Martinez-Ramirez during a party while playing with a handgun he didn't think was loaded.

Both men were members of the Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 31. The paper says King will serve his probation in his home state of New York and is no longer a Marine.

A phone message for King's attorney was not immediately returned.