2023-12-09 22:40:02
BISHOPVILLE, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina jurors have found a South Carolina inmate guilty of charges related to the death of a fellow prisoner during the deadliest U.S. prison riot in the last quarter century.
The Lee County jury deliberated less than an hour Friday before finding Michael Juan “Flame” Smith guilty of assault and battery, weapons possession and conspiracy for his role in the 2018 violent incident. Trial Judge Ferrell Cothran Jr. sentenced Smith to 45 years in prison, although one of the five-year sentences handed down will be served simultaneously with the other, media reported.
Seven inmates were killed and 22 seriously injured in the riot at the maximum-security Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Columbia. One inmate described the bodies “literally stacked on top of each other, like a macabre pile of firewood.”
Dozens of inmates have been indicted on charges related to the riots that occurred at three dormitories, and several of those charged began pleading guilty over the summer. But Smith, 31, was the first inmate whose case went to trial, according to media reports. Within four days he was found guilty of charges related to the death of 33-year-old Cornelius McClary.
“This sends a message that the people of Lee County and the Department of Corrections are not going to tolerate this type of behavior,” said Barney Giese, a former prosecutor hired by the Department of Corrections to help prosecute riot cases.
In trial testimony that largely focused on a dormitory, witnesses described chaos inside the prison and inmates being injured and killed after a fight between rival gangs on April 15, 2018.
Jurors viewed video footage showing the assault on McClary. Prosecutors said Smith was among the Blood gang members who chased McClary, who was trying to escape. A pathologist who served as a witness for the prosecution testified that McClary had been stabbed 101 times. Giese said the videos showed Smith pushing through a crowd of fellow Bloods to follow McClary, a Crips gang member who had fallen down a ladder, and stabbing and beating him.
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