On January 21, Charleston County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeffrey Degrow was shot six times, once in the eye. His shooter, accused 21-year-old Brandon Simmons, is no stranger to the justice system. Simmons was released from state prison in November after being arrested on burglary charges. He was on parole. 

Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon says the justice system is overwhelmed and Simmons is not the only criminal that gets back on the streets.

“There are so many that are charged with committing crimes that the system cannot process it. We may have in the county in a year’s time 8,000 indictments. If six people commit a crime, that’s gonna be six indictments. If one person commits six crimes, that’s gonna be six indictments. We may have 8,000 indictments in a year, which if each person exercise their right to a trial, you may have the potential to 2,000 trials in a year,” says Cannon. [Read more...]

A grandmother who killed her two grandchildren before killing herself left two notes explaining why she did it. Hanahan police say 51-year-old Phyllis Oser left two notes that said she was depressed and worried about financial and family issues before she killed her two grandchildren, 5-year-old Kylie Lavelle and 5-month-old Landon Lavelle, and herself.

Police Chief Donald Wilcox says Oser left a package for her daughter, who was not the children’s mother, on Sunday. One of the notes was in that package, the other was in the home where Oser died. Reports say the children’s parents had been in a custody battle over the two children.