Mistrial declared in murder case of man accused in killing at Donny’s Saloon in Myrtle Beach
CONWAY, S.C. (WBTW) — A mistrial was declared Thursday afternoon for a man accused of murder in a 2021 shooting at a Myrtle Beach bar.
Jermaine Gattison is being tried on a murder charge in Horry County Circuit court in the March 25, 2021, killing of Jas’sier Wilson of Surfside Beach, who died at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center several days after the shooting at Donny’s Saloon.
Jurors deliberated for about five hours before the mistrial verdict. The judge said the jury did “everything they could.”
After prosecutors rested their case against Gattison on Wednesday, defense attorneys called only one witness Thursday morning before resting their cases. Afterward, jurors received instructions from the judge before taking a lunch break.
They began deliberating after the break but returned a short time later to listen to audio of earlier testimony from a doctor from Grand Strand hospital. They returned to court shortly after 5 p.m. to ask the judge questions, specifically for the definition of self-defense.
Earlier Thursday, Dr. Thomas Owens, a forensic pathologist, called by the defense as an expert witness, said Wilson was shot three times, once in the back and twice in the hip.
During his testimony, Owens said Gattison’s defense team asked him in February to review the case. He said he received medical records from Grand Strand Regional Medical Center and police reports but noted that no autopsy was performed, something he called unusual in a homicide investigation.
He testified that he knew of a medical record of Wilson having seizures at the hospital and said an autopsy should have been performed to determine an official cause of death. He said the initial cause of death was determined to be cardio regulator due to complications from a wound to Wilson’s abdomen but because there was no autopsy performed, there is “medical reasonable double’ that Wilson died from complications from gunshot wounds.
He also testified that Wilson’s white blood cell count increased while he was in the hospital, which suggested an infection consistent with stress on his body.
Another man, Hubert Dwayne Durant, 40, has been charged with murder in the case, and four others have been arrested and charged with obstruction after police said staff members tried to clean up the blood and shell casings.
The trial began with jury selection on Monday, and jurors heard from several witnesses on Tuesday, including Vincent Padavano, a Myrtle Beach police traffic officer who was the first officer to arrive at the bar in the 1200 block of 3rd Avenue S.
Padavano said when he arrived, the floors were wet and looked like they had just been mopped. He said multiple cars and people were leaving, and when he went inside he heard some people scream “there was a shooting” and that he found shell casings on the ground.
Daniella Digiorgi, the owner of Donny’s at the time of the shooting, testified that she wasn’t there during the shooting but explained that employees’ normal routine is to clean up at the end of their shift. She testified that liquor had been spilled everywhere and that workers did not have intentions of cleaning up the crime scene.
Digiorgi said her employees called her and told her what happened. She said she told them to close and that she was on her way to the bar.
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Caleb is a digital producer at News13. Caleb joined the team in January 2023 after graduating from Liberty University. He is from Northern Virginia. Follow Caleb on X, formerly Twitter, and read more of his work here.
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Jackie LiBrizzi is a multimedia journalist at News13. Jackie is originally from Hamilton, New Jersey, and was raised in Piedmont, South Carolina. Jackie joined the News13 team in June 2023 after she graduated as a student-athlete from the University of South Carolina in May 2023. Follow Jackie on X, formerly Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, and read more of her work here.
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Dennis Bright is a Digital Producer at News13. He joined the team in May 2021. Dennis is a West Virginia native and a graduate of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Follow Dennis on, Facebook, X, formerly Twitter, and read more of his work here.
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