ORANGEBURG, S.C. — The judge overseeing the trial of a man accused of murdering a Benedict College student in 2019 has declared a mistrial.
Citing evidentiary issues, the judge declared the mistrial in the case of 19-year-old Tyler Jamal Givens. Givens was charged with murder in the death of 20-year-old Donovan Smalls at a house party in April 2019.
Investigators believed that Givens and three other friends attended a party on Summers Avenue on April 14. Investigators said that during the party, a 20-year-old woman fired her gun, setting off a "chain reaction" where others also pulled out their weapons. One of the shots killed Smalls. A female student at Claflin University was also hit in the chest by a bullet, but she recovered.
The evidence that triggered the mistrial involved cell phone records of a man who'd been questioned earlier during the trial. The defense had been asking the South Carolina Department of Public Safety for years for those phone records, and they told the judge they just got that data Wednesday night--after the man had already been cross-examined on the stand.
The defense claims the video showed some of what happened that night, and pictures taken the next day might prove their client was not responsible for the crime. The judge weighed the defense's call for a mistrial and dismissed the case without prejudice, which allows prosecutors and the defense to deal with these new developments. The state said in court they intend to retry the case later.