ORANGEBURG, S.C. — A jury Wednesday night convicted all three suspects on trial for killing four people and wounding a child at a Holly Hill home back in 2017. Moments later a judge sentenced all of them to life in prison.
The panel took three hours to deliberate before returning the unanimous decision against Robert Bailey, Luther Smith, and Antly Scott. Each was convicted of three counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, and one county of burglary first degree.
After hearing from the lawyers of the men, and one of their mothers, the judge gave all of them life behind bars.
On July 15, 2015, four people---58-year-old Jerome Butler, 28-year-old Krystal Hutto, 14-year-old Tamara Perry and 17-year-old Shamekia Sanders-- were found shot to death at a home on Old State Road in Holly Hill. Dreamzz Nelson, who was just 8 years old, was shot but did ultimately survive the ordeal.
The first arrests in the case were made in the case over a year later.
Investigators and prosecutors had said from the beginning that they believe drugs was a motive in the killings, because of connections between the suspects and the father of three of the victims who was not there at the time killings. During the trial prosecutors detailed some of those connections with multiple witnesses, and said the purpose of the suspects' trip to the home was a drug run.
Jurors also heard from Derrick Coleman, a fourth man charged with the killings. However, Coleman was not on trial and instead was a helping the prosecution as a witness.
Coleman said he was driving a vehicle that night but did not go into the home. He told the court Scott confessed to the crime moments after the killing, saying "I just killed five people."
The trial lasted over two and a half weeks.