SC prosecutors want to try 14-year-old boy as adult in York shooting death
A 14-year-old South Carolina boy accused of shooting a woman to death in her York home earlier this month will remain in jail as prosecutors seek to try the boy as an adult.
The boy made his first appearance in York County Family Court Tuesday — three weeks after his arrest following a standoff with SWAT at the victim’s home. The Herald is not naming the defendant because of his age.
Alethea Puckett Totherow, 56, was found dead May 3 in her home on Sutton Springs Road, which is west of the city of York. After an hourslong standoff, the suspect was taken into custody and has been in juvenile detention ever since. The York County Coroner’s Office said Totherow was shot several times.
The boy didn’t speak in court Tuesday and remains in detention at a S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice facility.
Prosecutors: Try the child as an adult
In a hearing in York County Family Court Tuesday, prosecutor Whitney Payne of the 16th Circuit Solicitor’s Office told visiting Judge Gene Morehead her office seeks to have the boy prosecuted as an adult.
As a result, prosecutors want the case moved from Family Court, where sentences end at 21 for any conviction. Potential punishment in adult court is up to life in prison if convicted, according to state law. A Family Court judge must agree the boy can be tried as an adult before the case can be moved.
No date has been set for a waiver hearing, where prosecutors will argue the defendant should face prosecution as an adult.
Nathan Sheldon, the boy’s lawyer, did not address the motion by prosecutors seeking to try the boy as an adult in the killing.
Judge Morehead ordered the boy undergo a mental evaluation before the waiver hearing.
Victim well-known
The relationship between the juvenile and Totherow has not been released. It’s also unclear how the boy gained access to the weapon. It is illegal in South Carolina for anyone under age 18 to possess a handgun.
Totherow was well-known in York, where she was a secretary at York Church of God. She was also a paralegal who worked for several lawyers in York County in her career.
Second juvenile request as an adult in a week
On May 17, prosecutors also sought a similar motion to try a 16-year-old girl as an adult for murder in a Rock Hill shooting incident where three people were killed.
The cases are not connected. The 16-year-old girl’s case is also waiting for a waiver hearing.
