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Chicken killing suspect nabbed Bond granted for Sumter man charged in death of 300K chickens in 2 counties BY KONSTANTIN VENGEROWSKY konstantin@theitem.com MANNING—A $30,000 cash bond or $60,000 surety bond was granted Wednesday evening for the suspect who the Clarendon County Sheriff’s Office thinks is responsible in the vandalism of 16 chicken houses and the deaths of more than 300,000 chickens in Clarendon and Sumter Counties. LOWERY The sheriff’s office estimated $1.28 million total in damages from the incidents that occurred in February. James Laverne Lowery, 44, of Gable, Sumter County, was arrested at his home about 11 p.m. Tuesday. Lowery was granted bond by Clarendon County Magistrate Judge Robin C. Locklear on the condition that he would have a GPS monitor on him for the next 90 days. Lowery is facing a bond hearing this morning in Sumter County for vandalism of a chicken farm that he allegedly was involved with in February. All of the chicken farms targeted, except the one in Sumter County, were in Clarendon County. Lowery was a chicken farmer in Sumter County
who had a contract with Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. His contract was terminated a brief time before the first chicken farms were hit in mid-February, said Clarendon County Sheriff Randy Garrett at a press conference held Wednesday morning. Lowery faces eight counts of second-degree burglary and four counts of malicious damage to property, according to the sheriff. Additional charges may be brought later on by federal authorities and could include a statute of tampering with the food chain, Garrett said. The sheriff said that the suspect has prior pending charges in both Clarendon and Sumter counties. At the bond hearing, Sumter Attorney Marvin E. “Chip” McMillan, Jr. said that Lowery’s case is “based entirely on suspicion.” “I sympathize with these growers, they have lost a lot,” McMillan said. “But I don’t believe you have the right guy.” Chicken houses were targeted sporadically from the northern to the southern ends of Clarendon County, including Manning, Gable and Summerton areas. All of the farms targeted were contracted with Pilgrim’s Pride Corp, according to Garrett. Garrett said that he was surprised that Pilgrim’s
Pride did not provide more cooperation with the investigation. “I could have used a whole lot more cooperation than I got from them,” he said. “I think that Pilgrim’s Pride could have done a better job in assisting us in law enforcement. I’m not saying that they didn’t, but they were slow with it.” The sheriff told The Sumter Item in February that whoever was responsible for the crimes was familiar with the alarm systems the chicken houses had. The alarms control the heat, air conditioning and ventilation units inside the houses. “Whoever is doing this knows exactly how these alarms operate,” Garrett said in February. “And it is not an easy combination, but a system of switches that you have to turn on and off; you have to be familiar with chicken farms.” Garrett said that the Sheriff’s Office received no tips as a result of the $50,000 reward that Pilgrim’s Pride posted and $5,000 reward that PETA put up. “This was a result of the efforts of our dedicated investigators and law enforcement departments,” he said. Clarendon County Sheriff’s Office, Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, Florence County Sheriff’s Office and SLED were involved in the investigation.
KONSTANTIN VENGEROWSKY / THE SUMTER ITEM
Bond was granted Wednesday evening for James Laverne Lowery, 44, of Sumter County, the alleged suspect in the killing of 300,000 chickens in Clarendon and Sumter Counties.
Tsarnaev guilty on all charges in Boston Marathon bombing
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Anthony Scott holds a photo of himself, center, and his brothers Walter Scott, left, and Rodney Scott, right, as he talks about his brother at his home near North Charleston on Wednesday. Walter Scott was killed by a North Charleston police officer after a traffic stop on Saturday. The officer, Michael Thomas Slager, has been charged with murder.
Fatal Charleston police shooting video may have major impact a white policeman so vivid that a murder NEW YORK (AP) — Graphic videos have charge came swiftly. surfaced previously that kindled “I have watched the video and I outrage over police use of force — When can police was sickened by what I saw,” Eddie the Rodney King beating in Los Anuse lethal force? A5 Driggers, the North Charleston pogeles, last year’s chokehold death lice chief, said on Wednesday. in New York City. The new video from South Carolina is perhaps the most striking yet — its depiction of a fleeing, SEE SHOOTING, PAGE A8 unarmed black man being shot in the back by
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BOSTON (AP) — Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted on all charges Wednesday in the Boston Marathon bombing by a jury that will now decide whether the 21-year-old should be executed or shown mercy for what his lawyer says was a crime masterminded by his big brother. The former college student folded his arms, fidgeted and looked down at the defense table in federal court as he listened to the word “guilty” recited on all 30 counts against him, including conspiracy and deadly use of a weapon of mass destruction. Seventeen of those counts are punishable by death. The verdict, reached after a day and a half of deliberations, was practically a foregone conclusion, given his lawyer’s startling admission at the trial’s outset that Tsarnaev carried out the terror attack with his nowdead older brother, Tamerlan. The defense strategy is to try to save Tsarnaev’s
life in the upcoming penalty phase by arguing he fell under the evil influence TSARNAEV of his brother. The two shrapnelpacked pressure-cooker bombs that exploded near the finish line on April 15, 2013, killed three spectators and wounded more than 260 other people, turning the traditionally celebratory home stretch of the world-famous race into a scene of carnage and putting the city on edge for days. Tsarnaev was found responsible not only for those deaths but for the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer who was gunned down days later. “It’s not a happy occasion, but it’s something,” said Karen Brassard, who suffered shrapnel wounds on her legs. “One more step behind us.”
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