Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Pizza deliveryman slain during robbery attempt
File/The Post and Courier
Wilson James (left), a pizza delivery man, was killed during an
attempted armed robbery on June 2, 2007. Delronezy Washington (right) is one of
two people accused with Wilson's death. Prosecutors today said they will file
for the death penalty against Washington.
SUMMERVILLE — Prosecutors will file for the death penalty today against
18-year-old Delronezy Washington, one of two people accused of baiting pizza
deliveryman Wilson James with an order and then killing him during a June 2
armed robbery attempt.
Washington will be led from the jail into the county courthouse in St. George
for a 9:30 a.m. hearing during which 1st Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe will
inform Circuit Judge James C. Williams Jr. of his intent, said Don Sorenson, 1st
Circuit deputy solicitor. The procedure should take only a few moments.
Pascoe said he has handled 30 murder cases since he was elected in January
2005. He has sought the death penalty in only three of them.
"It's a decision I obviously don't take lightly," he said.
Pascoe said he met with the James' wife a few weeks ago and that she supports
seeking the death penalty.
It's a "tempered" decision, Pascoe said.
Pascoe will not file for the death penalty against Washington's accomplice,
16-year-old Deshawn A. Brown, because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that
prohibits the death penalty for anyone who is 17 or younger at the time of the
offense.
Under South Carolina law, the death penalty can be imposed against adults for
a variety of offenses, including murder committed during an armed robbery
attempt.
If Washington is convicted, the same jury that heard the case will be asked
to decide whether the death penalty should apply. A trial date has not been set.
Washington and Brown, both Greenhurst neighborhood teens, were arrested June
6 on charges they killed James, a Pizza Hut delivery driver.
Washington has been held in the Dorchester County Jail since his arrest.
Although Brown is being charged as an adult, he must be held at a Department of
Juvenile Justice facility in Columbia because of his age.
James, 54, was shot once when he attempted to make a delivery at 108 Beatrice
Lane. The pizza order was fake, and James was shot when he got out of his
station wagon, although it appears nothing was stolen, detectives have said.
James was working three jobs, in part to help put two children through
college. He delivered pizzas five evenings a week, delivered The Post and
Courier in the mornings and ran a vending machine business during the day.
The case would be the second involving the death penalty in Dorchester County
in recent times. The other involves an inmate accused of murdering another
inmate inside Lieber Correctional Institution in Ridgeville in 2005.
Reach Schuyler Kropf at 937-5551 or skropf@postandcourier.com.