LORIS, SC (WBTW) – A man has been convicted and sentenced to 35 years in a 2016 Loris Christmas murder case.
On Thursday, Roger Grate, 53, of Loris, was convicted of murder by an Horry County jury in the 2016 Christmas Day shooting death of his nephew, according to a press release from the 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office. Darrell Doctor, 40, was shot during a family gathering on Kennedy Street.
The jury deliberated for about two hours before they convicted Grate, the release said. Grate was also convicted of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
Grate received a 35-year sentence for murder and a 5-year sentence for the weapon charge. These sentences will run concurrently.
“Evidence showed that on Christmas Day 2016 family members were gathered at Grate’s home in Loris when Grate confronted his step-son and they argued near the road,” the release stated. “Doctor went to check on Grate’s step-son at his vehicle parked in the road when Grate told Doctor to leave. Doctor had turned in the middle of the road and was walking toward Grate when Grate pulled out a gun from his holster and shot Doctor in the head, killing him instantly.”
“Mr. Doctor did not have to die that night. Certainly, not at the hands of someone he trusted,” Chris Helms, with the Solicitor’s Office, said in the release. “We would like to thank the officers with the Horry County Police Department for their hard work because without it justice might not have been served today.”
“The action that he took has torn our family apart,” Doctor’s sister, April Crocco, said before Grate was sentenced. “My kids live in fear because of this incident. Darrell was a loving person, he loved everybody.”
