Prosecutor drops, reduces charges for slaying suspect
Published: October 8, 2008
Updated: October 9, 2008
A defendant in two Florence County slayings, including a fatal Easter 2003 shooting in a Florence park, has been released from jail after one murder count was reduced and the other was dropped.
Marcus Martin, 28, was sentenced Tuesday to time he’d served in jail, 12th Circuit Solicitor Ed Clements III said.
“It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but the bottom line was we had no evidence,” Clements said.
The one person who had come forward as a witness to the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Antoine McCall at Dr. Iola Jones Park was slain in a separate incident, Clements said.
Prosecutors had no other forensic evidence linking Martin to the crimes, Clements said.
Martin had been set free on bond after he was charged in the 2000 fatal shooting of Savalis Smoot at a Florence County nightclub. Co-defendant Sheldon Davis pleaded guilty to the murder and said Martin had nothing to do with the crime, Clements said.
“We don’t believe that, but we can’t prove otherwise,” he said.
Martin had been named one of South Carolina’s most wanted fugitives by the U.S. Marshals, who found the suspect in New Jersey in January 2007. Florence police brought Martin back to South Carolina the following month.
Martin was sentenced after pleading guilty to being an accessory after the fact to murder. Prosecutors cited no specific act for the charge, but Clements said he wanted to ensure Martin didn’t go “scot-free.”
“I was not going to let him walk,” Clements said. “He’d have had to go to trial and beat me.”
Gunfire erupted on the east side of Dr. Iola Jones Park about 8:30 p.m. on April 20, 2003, where a crowd of about 200 people were gathered in northeast Florence.
“But nobody saw anything, which I don’t believe and neither did law enforcement,” Clements said.
Medics took another man who was shot in the torso to the hospital following the shooting.
Two days later, police identified Martin as a suspect in the fatal assault.
Clements said the victim’s family worked “hand-in-hand” with Florence police, who spent many years on the case.
“If members of the community will not step up and help law enforcement keep our community safe, we have an almost impossible job to do,” he said.
Reader Reactions
Demon Dog you seem to know a lot for someone who was present but never reported a thing. I find it so strange that out of over 200 people on a park, barrages of gun fire and a police report that stated several shell casing were found why is it that only one person saw the shooting. Oh by the way why don’t someone request that statement made by the only witness. Oh boy would you be suprised. Ask the solicitor about it. It won’t hurt the witness because he’s deceased. The police department knew Martin was not guilty since 2000. Why was his bond for the 2000 Murder only $15,000.00? His second bond for 2003 was only $50,000.00. Florence County had to try to “Save Face” because they knew they had the wrong man. That was evident when they brought him back as a fugitive in February 2007 and wouldn’t go forth with a trial. Search the public records There were numerous request by Martin attorneys for Speedy Trials since 2000 but Florence County kept violating his rights because they couldn’t go to trial. Wise up. They kept him at FCDC so long until they couldn’t anymore. Yes it was a bitter pill. If someone had shot my child I wouldn’t have sat around all these years waiting. The killer from 2003 wasn’t Martin because as good looking as he is, as tall as he is and as good as he dressed everybody in the park would have seen him shooting. The innocent by standers didn’t see anything? Please use a little intellect that’s why so many black men are sitting in jail and prision for crimes they didn’t commit. Martin didn’t commit the Murders and apparently he was prepared to keep sitting in a cell 22 hours a day but Ed Clements knew legally he couldn’t hold him any longer. Martin stayed the course and after all the unjustices and violation of his rights it was God who gave him the victory and exposed the illegal practices that continue in the judical system.
I was there working that night at Iola Jones park. Marcus Martin fled the scene and left the state as a wanted fugitive. Several other innocent by standers stuck around after the shooting, why do you think Martin left? Martin was on the run for weeks before getting picked up while still out of state and returned here on his warrants. I hate that all of the investigator’s work was essentially for nothing.
I wonder how long it will be before this scumbag kills again. Let’s hope next time he is the victim.
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