After three hours of deliberation, an Horry County jury decided Jerome Jenkins should face the death penalty in connection to the deadly Sun House robberies of 2015.
On Saturday, the jury found Jenkins guilty of murder, armed robbery, and attempted murder.
On Tuesday, the prosecution brought in five correctional officers to the stand to discuss Jenkins’ threatening behavior in two different facilities, where he was said to have thrown feces at an officer.
On Wednesday, the defense brought in Jenkins’ loved ones where it was established he had a rough childhood in Playcard, South Carolina with a long line of family members who have been incarcerated.
On Thursday, Ralph Wilson Senior who represents Jenkins mentioned in his closing statement how his father was in prison for 22 years, and his mother would beat him with ax handles and hoses. He urged the jury to spare his life in order to break the ‘generational curse.’
“If you spare his life, maybe his son won’t end up in front of 12 people, maybe, just maybe we can stop the cycle, maybe we can put an end to it, maybe we can stop the violence,” said Wilson.
Fifteenth Circuit Court Solicitor, Jimmy Richardson led the prosecution’s closing argument by referencing a letter Jenkins wrote to his mother while in jail reading, “I killed those man and woman and I’m not sorry for it.”
“It’s not just for those victims, it’s for Jerome too. What sentence speaks justice? I submit to you, the only sentence between life and death that speaks justice, that speaks the truth, is death.” said Richardson.
After the death penalty was announced, the judge asked Jenkins if he had anything he wanted to say and he turned around to say ‘I love you’ to his family.
Despite the verdict, the drugs South Carolina does have for the lethal injection are expired, and the state does not have access to buy more. The last time someone was executed in South Carolina was in 2011.
