Charleston man receives 6 years for fatal wreck that killed Summerton man

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A Charleston man charged nearly two years ago with the drunk driving death of a Summerton man will serve six years in prison after pleading guilty last week. Jacob Patrick Ham of 1917 Swift Ave. in Charleston pleaded guilty Thursday to felony driving under the influence where death results before Circuit Court Judge Thomas W. Cooper at the Clarendon County Courthouse, receiving a sentence of 10 years in prison, suspended to six years in prison and two years' probation. Ham was 23 when he was charged July 19 after a late-evening wreck on Lake Marion Shores Road in Summerton resulted in the death of 68-year-old Richard Allen Moye. According to reports from the S.C. Highway Patrol, Ham was driving his 2007 GMC pickup truck while under the influence of alcohol about 7:45 p.m. July 19, when he crossed the center lane and struck the motorcycle on which Moye was riding. Ham had remained at the Clarendon County Detention Center since his arrest more than a year ago, and will receive credit for time-served. According to a State Law Enforcement Division Records Check, Ham was out on a personal recognizance bond at the time of the wreck from a March 2015 arrest for driving under the influence less than .10, first offense. That charge is still listed as pending.