GEORGETOWN, SC (WBTW) – A Georgetown man has been sentenced to life in prison under South Carolina’s two-strike law.
John Nathan Linen II, 38, was convicted of robbery, kidnapping, and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime following a trial that began Tuesday, said Keith Powell, the assistant solicitor who prosecuted the case for the 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
Judge Benjamin Culbertson sentenced Linen to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the kidnapping; 15 years for the robbery charge; and five years for the weapon charge. The sentences will run concurrently.
Linen received a mandatory life sentence under South Carolina’s two-strike law. This is the third robbery conviction for Linen. In 2003, he was sentenced to 15 years each for armed robbery and strong-arm robbery; 10 years for possession of a sawed-off shotgun; and five years for possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Those sentences ran concurrently.
The 2003 convictions resulted from two separate business robberies, and Linen was released from the South Carolina Department of Corrections on Oct. 30, 2015, and was placed on community supervision by the South Carolina Department of Probation and Parole. He was still on community supervision when the most recent crimes were committed.
This week’s conviction stemmed from March 20, 2017, when according to the Georgetown County Sheriff Office’s incident report, the Dollar General at 8003 N. Fraser St., was robbed at gunpoint. During that robbery, the store clerk was restrained with zip ties and released by a customer who came into the store after the robbery was over.
During his pre-trial detention in the Georgetown County Detention Center, Linen was arrested for assault and battery of a high and aggravated manner for an alleged fight at the jail, threatening the life of a detention center officer, and two counts of a prisoner in possession of contraband. Those charges will be dismissed since Linen is serving life without parole.
