Jury finds black man not guilty of killing white woman
- 8 minutes ago
- 2 min read
A racially mixed jury today found Charles Reams III not guilty of murder.
The weeklong trial ended on a resounding note, affirming that justice can be found in Greenville, South Carolina's judicial system.
Twenty-one-year-old Charity Southerland, a white woman, was found dead in her bedroom on April 2, 2022. She was shot once in the neck and once in the hand. Police ruled her demise a homicide.
Investor Blake Wolfe said there were 27 persons of interest, but most of them did not lead to a viable case.
However, when the police questioned Southerland’s on-again-off-again boyfriend two days after the homicide, Charles Reams III, they found no grounds to arrest him. His phone was found to be in Greer at the time of the murder.
Reams also said that he was playing a video game at the home of a friend at the time of the shooting. Officer Blake Wolfe said at the recent trial that he did not attempt to confirm his alibi, even though many video games now use the internet, making it relatively easy to corroborate that statement.
Chad Snyder said that the state did not present persuasive evidence to convict Reams. It turns out that the jury agreed with Snyder.
Concluding arguments were completed before the lunch break. And the jury returned a not-guilty verdict before 4 pm.
The solicitor had said she had DNA evidence and a fingerprint linking Reams to the crime scene. Snyder said that Reams had lived at her address for nearly two years before the incident, thereby rendering the police findings irrelevant, since prints and DNA can persist for a long time.
The solicitor conjured up a motive for the killing, postulating that the dispute was over the issue of child custody.
Snyder displayed through a string of text messages that the custody of their son was never in dispute.
After the verdict, the appropriate paperwork was completed, and Reams was released, paving the way for his criminal record to be expunged.
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