Reckless homicide cases in Greenville County

Experts say cases aren't easy to compare

by Cindy Landrum

Published: Nov. 22, 2009, 4:24 p.m.

The two defendants who pleaded guilty to reckless homicide in Greenville County before John Ludwig were sent to prison.

Ludwig got probation and community service.

Authorities say, though, comparing sentences is tough because the facts of reckless homicide cases vary so much.

“That’s why it carries from zero to 10,” said David Pascoe, solicitor from the First Circuit, the district where James C. Williams Jr., the judge who sentenced Ludwig, served as an assistant solicitor before being elected a circuit judge.

In March, Lauren Gross, a teenager with no driver’s license who sped through a curve on a rural Greenville County road at three times the recommended speed limit, received a five-year prison sentence in connection with a wreck that killed a Blue Ridge High student and an alum.

Alcohol was not involved.

Gross said a passenger in the car tickled her before she lost control of her car, sideswiped a Ford Taurus and hit a Jeep head-on.

At the court hearing, the families of 18-year-old Austin Crain and 17-year-old Jolayne Eill tearfully asked the judge to impose a stiff sentence.

In another case, 33-year-old Holly Hembree pleaded guilty to two counts of reckless homicide and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Hembree hit an elderly Berea couple taking their morning walk, killing them. Authorities said Hembree had spent the night before the wreck at a bar, but couldn’t prove alcohol played a role because Hembree left the scene and wasn’t found until hours later. Hembree said she didn’t realize she hit anybody.

In a 2002 Berkeley County case, Williams sentenced a man with a lifelong history of epileptic seizures to the maximum 20 years in prison after the man pleaded guilty to two counts in connection with a wreck that killed two law enforcement officers who had stopped to help a stranded motorist, according to the Orangeburg Times-Democrat.

The newspaper reported the man, Brian Nelson, had never been able to obtain a driver’s license because of the seizures and had been told by several doctors not to drive.

But the Ludwig case wasn’t the first reckless homicide plea in which Williams imposed a probationary sentence instead of prison.

The Times-Democrat reported Williams sentenced a former Santee police officer to probation in connection with a 2002 wreck after the wife of the victim said she forgave him and wanted him to be free.

In another 2002 case, Williams sentenced a woman who struck and killed a second-grader as she rushed to work to 18 months in prison, The State reported.

The newspaper reported Williams said he doubted he could punish the woman, who was blind in one eye and confined to a wheelchair.

“But we cannot send the message that this conduct, even by someone with no criminal record, can be condoned,” the newspaper quoted Williams as saying.

When reached by telephone in Pickens where he conducted court Tuesday, Williams said he would not comment on the Ludwig sentence other than what he said in court.

Seventh Circuit Solicitor Trey Gowdy said he doesn’t believe the public, which has expressed outrage at Ludwig’s probationary sentence, would have been satisfied with the time Ludwig would have served even if he had been given the maximum sentence.

“Cases like this cry out for the need to recalibrate our homicide statutes,” he said. “Anybody who cares about the judicial system doesn’t want people to think there’s a two-tiered system for rich and poor. You don’t want them wondering if the same thing would have happened if it was Ludwig who had been hit by the guy who died.”

Contact Cindy Landrum at 679-1237 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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