Two men will spend the rest of their lives in prison after pleading guilty to murder in the shooting death of 6-year-old Winston O’Conner Hunter.
Hunter was killed while sitting on the couch of his family’s home on McClain Street, in Woodford. Gunfire erupted from a vehicle outside at 11:35 p.m. on May 13, 2022.
Ethan Thorne Anderson, 21, of Greenwood Drive, West Columbia and Jeremiah J. Harley, 19, of County Road 50, Canandaigua, New York pleaded guilty to murder on Tuesday morning at the Orangeburg County Courthouse.
They each also faced three counts of attempted murder and four counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, but those charges were dismissed.
On Tuesday afternoon, Circuit Judge Maite Murphy sentenced both men to life in prison. There is no eligibility for parole for life sentences in South Carolina.
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Co-defendants Michael Thomas Lloyd, 22, of Pinewood Street, Chillicothe, Illinois and Seth James Phillips, 21, of Karen Place, Farmington, N.Y. are awaiting trial on murder charges.
Harley orchestrated what transpired outside of Winston Hunter’s home, 1st Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe told the court.
Pascoe claims a drug dealer on McClain Street purposely told Anderson an incorrect address before the four went to buy marijuana.
The drug dealer gave Anderson the address to Winston Hunter’s home instead.
When the four arrived in Anderson’s silver Chrysler, they saw multiple vehicles in the yard.
The four believed they were being set up by an “opposing gang,” Pascoe said.
Harley decided that he, Anderson and Lloyd would open fire on what they thought was the drug dealer’s home, Pascoe claims.
At least 21 bullets were fired.
Pascoe said Harley’s 9 mm bullet struck Winston Hunter in the head, killing him.
Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office investigators collected 14 9 mm shell casings from the scene.
They also collected one .40-caliber shell casing, which they believe Anderson fired, and six .380-caliber shell casings, allegedly shot by Lloyd.
Pascoe alleges Anderson, Harley, Lloyd and Phillips celebrated the shooting the next day at the home of Harley’s brother, Terrell Dantaveas Ruffin, 26, of 206B Wedgefield Circle, Gaston.
Ruffin is facing one count of obstruction of justice for allegedly selling their three firearms to someone. His charge is pending.
A break came in the case a couple of weeks after the shooting when the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office released a surveillance photo of the car the shooters were riding in.
Pascoe said Anderson became suspicious that law enforcement was trying to find his Chrysler, so he sold it to Harley.
Harley then drove the car to upstate New York, where the Ontario County Sheriff’s Office claimed to have footage of Harley driving it. Phillips was a passenger.
The sheriff’s office there stopped the car and took Harley and Phillips into custody.
At the same time, according to Pascoe, Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office investigators tracked down Anderson in Gaston.
When Anderson was arrested, he admitted he fired into the McClain Street home and implicated Harley, Pascoe said.
Investigators recovered the firearms.
Pascoe said the S.C. Law Enforcement Division analyzed the firearms and concluded they were the ones used in the crime.
Anderson’s attorneys, public defenders Doug Mellard and Peggy Hinds, asked the court to take into consideration that he was cooperative with investigators and not only told them where Ruffin allegedly sold the firearms, but led investigators to where they were sold.
They asked the court to consider the fact that the shot Anderson fired didn’t kill Winston Hunter.
Hinds told the court that when Anderson got in the car, he didn’t have a gun. She claimed, “Harley put the gun in (Anderson’s) hand.”
Both of Anderson’s attorneys said that Anderson is remorseful.
Harley’s attorney, Andrew Farley, told the court to consider that his client was 17 when he killed Winston Hunter and didn’t have the maturity or life experiences to realize the consequences of his actions.
Farley said his client is “very regretful.”
Members of Winston Hunter’s family addressed the court.
His mother, Courtney Hunter, said, “On May 13, my life turned upside down.”
She said Winston would’ve been completing the second grade now if he hadn’t been shot and killed.
“Every day I am working to make sure he wasn’t taken in vain,” she said.
“He was ripped away for no reason,” she added.
She said, “Winston was always a go-getter.”
His father, Trell Colter, told the court that he made sure to teach his children right from wrong.
“I knew the vision he had for himself,” he said.
He said the family’s pain is indescribable.
“It’s never going to be OK,” he said.
Winston Hunter’s cousin, Ashley Schofield, said he “was a light.”
“He showed all 32 teeth when he walked into a room,” she said.
“A night of family fun turned into a night of horror,” she added.
“We will never get to see Winston again,” she said.
After Winston Hunter’s family spoke, Pascoe said he wanted Anderson and Harley to hear the 911 call that Courtney Hunter made so they “could hear the hell they caused that night and the pain they gave to this family.”
“I wanted them to hear what (the defendants) celebrated that night. If they don’t get it after hearing Courtney and Trell, then they’re not going to get it, so I’m not playing it,” he said.
Murphy replied, “I’d like to hear it.”
Pascoe played part of the 911 call where Courtney Hunter frantically and emotionally tried to tell a dispatcher about her son getting shot.
Some of those attending the hearing fought tears. Anderson wiped a tear from his eye.
Pascoe noted that more of the 911 call has a dispatcher guiding Winston Hunter’s 12-year-old brother on how to perform CPR.
The first law enforcement officer to arrive at the scene was North Police Chief Lin Shirer, Pascoe said.
When Shirer arrived, Winston Hunter was being held by his brother. He told Shirer, “Please save my brother.”
During sentencing, Murphy said, “The fact that (the defendants) celebrated a shooting after killing a 6-year-old boy, it is really just incomprehensible.”
“It’s hard to imagine the evil intent in someone’s heart to do that,” she said.
“Of course, the Supreme Court has abolished the death penalty for all juvenile offenders and in this case, it does include the aggravating circumstance of murdering a child under the age of 11 years old. The fact that the state did not seek the death penalty in this case is a mitigating circumstance that the court takes into consideration,” she said.
“Considering the airtight case that the state had against these defendants, it could’ve certainly ended up being a death penalty case for all of the defendants,” she said.
Speaking to the defendants’ attorneys, Murphy said, “You say your clients are remorseful, they certainly haven’t showed anything to this court today that they’re remorseful.”