Rap lyrics assist in murder sentence
Three years after a murder at the Harbison Boulevard Olive Garden, a 22-year-old Columbia man has been sentenced to life in prison with the help of some rap lyrics, The State reported.
Gonzales “Snoop” Wardlaw was found guilty of murdering 21-year-old Thomas T. Hoefer, who was shot in the chest with a .22-caliber handgun and died on the way to the hospital.
Wardlaw was tied to the shooting after rap lyrics with references to the incident in them were found in his home. The lyrics had phrases like “hit ‘em in his chest” and “caught ‘em at da Olive Garden.”
Wardlaw admitted that the lyrics were his in his testimony but said he was acting in self defense when he shot Hoefer. Hoefer’s family asked for the maximum sentence.
Firearm bill struck down in senate committee
A bill that would have allowed South Carolinians to carry firearms, concealed or not and with or without a permit, was nixed by the state Senate’s Judiciary Committee Tuesday, The State reported.
State Sen. Lee Bright, R-Spartanburg, sponsored the bill, which would have allowed felons convicted of “possession or use of a weapon of mass destruction, causing death” to carry firearms without training or permits.
After debating for more than an hour, the committee voted the bill down by a 17-4 vote, effectively killing it for the rest of the year.
Bright said he would amend the bill to make it exclude people who committed those crimes in exchange for the bill’s passage, but that compromise was also denied.
Gov. Nikki Haley said last week that she was in support of Bright’s bill and would sign it if it made it to her desk.
Columbia man pleads guilty in Childress shooting
Michael Juan Smith, the 21-year-old Columbia man accused of shooting and paralyzing first-year business student Martha Childress, pleaded guilty to a federal gun charge Wednesday, according to The State.
Smith faces up to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a weapon. Smith was on probation when Childress was shot in October.
Childress was not in court Wednesday, but she is expected to be in court when Smith receives his sentence several months from now.
Smith is being held on several state charges, including aggravated assault and battery and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
Though they are state charges, authorities used federal gun laws to prosecute Smith.