BISHOPVILLE, S.C. — There’s been a delay in the start of a trial related to the 2018 deadly prison riot in Lee County. Defendant Stephen Green is being tried for his role in the riot, but Monday morning, his trial didn’t begin as planned.
Green was to be tried for first degree assault and battery by mob, criminal conspiracy and carrying a weapon as a prisoner at the Lee County Courthouse. The courtroom was packed with people filling every aisle waiting for jury selection when Judge Ferrell Cothran announced that the trial would not be happening as scheduled.
“I think the good news is, this is probably the biggest jury pool I’ve seen in Lee County since I’ve been on the bench 18 and a half years,” Cothran told the room. “The bad news is the case…we had a weeklong trial scheduled to go today, and this morning the defense counsel had an emergency medical situation and he's in the hospital in Columbia, so I can’t try the case.”
At this point, we don’t know when the case will be rescheduled but the prosecutor’s office has said it’s trying to schedule plea deals to take place this week. News 19 reached out to the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDOC), which says 11 have pleaded guilty to their charges. As News 19 has reported, Michael Juan Smith was found guilty of assault and battery by a mob after a five day trial in December. SCDOC says two defendants are dead. As of now, there are 33 remaining open cases.
“So more trials coming up,” SCDOC Director Bryan Stirling said in an interview after the most recent set of plea deals in February. “This is a long process. This is a very complex, complex case.”
Special prosecutor Barney Giese says it’s a lengthy process.
“There's seven different people that died, okay, in three separate dorms,” Giese said to News 19 in February. “I mean, that's just a lot. That's a lot of cases. Each case is different. Each defendant is different. Each victim is different. So that's the thing that's going to take a while because it's just that complex.”