Bond will still have to wait for a 61-year-old Manning man who allegedly shot his wife five times and then turned himself into authorities at the Clarendon County Detention Center, almost a year after the incident.
Circuit Court Judge Robert E. Hood said Friday in Clarendon County General Sessions Court that he will hold a conference call later this week with the 3rd Circuit Solicitor's Office, the 3rd Circuit Public Defender's Office and the State Law Enforcement Division regarding forensic evidence in the state's case against Johnny Lee Richburg Jr.
Richburg was arrested Aug. 9, 2015, after turning himself in at the jail. He confessed, according to the Clarendon County Sheriff's Office, to shooting his wife during an argument earlier that night at the couple's Poston Lane home in Manning.
Charged with murder, Richburg has had three previous bond hearings. Bond was immediately rejected the day after his arrest, as magistrate judges may not grant bond for offenses where the sentence is life in prison or death.
Circuit Judge DeAndrea G. Benjamin denied bond in September 2014, while 3rd Circuit Judge R. Ferrell Cothran also denied bond in January.
Clarendon Public Defender Scott Robinson said Friday that Cothran rejected his motion for bond in January because the forensic evidence had not yet come back from SLED. At that time, Cothran allowed that bond could be heard again when the evidence came forward.
Robinson said he believes forensic evidence - gunshot residue tests - along with crime scene photos will show that Richburg, his client, did not premeditate his wife's death.
"It has been nearly a year now since this case started, and we do not have full discovery," Robinson said. "I have yet to get any crime scene photos. But, your honor, there was no one else in this home. No other witnesses were there. This couple knew each other for 43 years. They had been married for 30 years. He immediately drove himself to the jail. It's our sincere belief that this is not murder, and the forensic evidence will substantiate what he said."
Robinson said Richburg is not a flight risk, nor is he a danger to anyone else in the community.
Third Circuit Assistant Solicitor Chris DuRant said Richburg could, however, be a danger to himself.
"Our concern is that he did tell law enforcement that he would've killed himself that night had he not run out of bullets," DuRant told Hood.
DuRant told Hood that 57-year-old Julia McCray Richburg and her husband were at their Poston Lane home in the late evening hours of Aug. 9, 2014, when they began to argue.
"The defendant told deputies that he and his wife had been at a party, and that when they got home she confronted him about possibly looking at another woman in an inappropriate manner," DuRant said. "The defendant said his wife got irate, got a gun and that he took it from her and they fought over it and he shot her."
Julia Richburg was ultimately shot five times and was found lying in a pool of blood in her kitchen.
"This was a situation that got out of hand," Robinson said. "He did not intentionally kill her. He didn't run and hide. He didn't stage some elaborate scene where it looked like a robbery or something else. He turned himself in. We just want a reasonable bond so that he can be out as we try to resolve this case."
Lee McCray, the victim's brother, said he and his family are completely against his brother-in-law getting bond.
"Our sister was full of life; she was a beautiful woman," he said. "He murdered her in cold blood. He betrayed our sister in the ultimate way. This is the same woman who stood by him through thick and thin. Her life was not his to take. I beg you, your honor, to deny bond."
Hood said during the conference call he will ask SLED for the all the forensic evidence to be turned over to the state and defense as quickly as possible.
"This isn't fair to anyone, not to the defendant and certainly not to the victim's family," he said. "You're all kind of held hostage while we can't move this case forward."
Hood said he would make a ruling on bond in writing after the phone call.
