It took an Orangeburg County jury less than 45 minutes of deliberation Wednesday to decide Marvin L. Meek was guilty in a 2001 attack on retired orthopedist Dr. Joel R. Graziano.

Charged with armed robbery and carjacking, Meek was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole by 1st Circuit Court Judge Jimmy Williams. He was sentenced under the two-strikes law, which mandates life without parole upon a person’s second conviction of specified felonies, including armed robbery and carjacking.

Meek was convicted of kidnapping, robbery and first-degree burglary in 1982 in California, according to 1st Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe and 1st Circuit Deputy Solicitor Don Sorenson. He served 15 years and was paroled in 1997.

After being paroled, Meek went to Indiana where his sister lives and stole his brother-in-law’s identity, passing himself off as Jeffrey Flora for several years, the solicitors said. He used the name occasionally when he came to Orangeburg.

They also said Meek was wanted not only in California where his parole was revoked, but also in Georgia, where he is currently serving a sentence, Indiana and Arizona.

Officials say that on April 30, 2001, a “very well-dressed” Meek attacked Graziano in his car in the driveway of his Brookside Drive home. Graziano was hit several times in the face with a pistol. After a struggle, Graziano escaped and his 2000 Jaguar was stolen.

Graziano was treated for head injuries and a broken finger.

Taking the stand in his own defense, the 50-year-old Meek wove a murky tale of intrigue, telling the court that he was dealing in steroids when he was in Orangeburg in 2001. Meek said he came to Orangeburg because of the possibility of selling steroids to collegiate athletes and others.

He claimed to have met a trainer at an Ellis Avenue gym who told him he could provide him with anabolic steroids.

Meek claimed he had clandestine a meeting with Graziano to arrange for the exchange of the steroids. He said he went to Graziano’s home on the morning of April 30, 2001, because five days earlier he had given the physician $10,000 in cash for steroids which he had not delivered. He said he went to the physician’s home that morning to retrieve his money.

Two officers from the Phoenix (Arizona) Police Department, Alexander Altsoba and Jeffrey Smoger, who stopped Meek on a traffic charge in November of 2002, testified that he told them his name was Graziano but failed to spell it correctly. When the officers checked the spelling Meek gave them to see if it was registered in any other state, nothing came back.

They arrested Meek and found Graziano’s driver’s license, Social Security card and insurance card in the wallet Meek was carrying. The Phoenix Police Department contacted Graziano to inform him that they found his identification.

Graziano contacted Capt. Mike Adams of the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety, who had been leading the investigation since the 2001 incident.

After Meek’s arrest in Arizona, he was extradited to Georgia.

Adams testified that on March 11, 2003, he went to Georgia and conducted a videotaped interview with Meek. In that interview, Adams said Meek never mentioned steroids to him. He said Meek told him the attack on Graziano was a random act.

Adams said Meek told him that he had inoperable intestinal cancer. Meek said he went to The Regional Medical Center to find out why he was hurting and saw Graziano there and followed him home to find out where he lived, Adams said.

Adams found out that Meek does not have intestinal cancer. Meek could not provide any information on his alleged steroid customers. He could not sufficiently explain why he parked nearly a mile away from Graziano’s house that morning. And he could offer no explanation for taking Graziano’s car and wallet.

In his closing argument, Pascoe told the jury Meek’s whole life is based on lies. “He comes in this court and victimizes this man and his family again by slandering and defaming him,” Pascoe said. “Do you think he cares about the trail of victims he’s leaving behind? To find him not guilty, you would have to base your verdict on fiction and deny every fact that has been revealed in this trial.

“Think about it. What has been one of the big stories in the news in the last week and a half? The story of the doctor giving steroids to athletes. This is an 11th-hour defense that the defendant has come up with,” Pascoe said. “Show him that he can run, but he can’t hide from the truth. With one word, let the defendant know that he drinks from the same cup of justice as everybody else. And that word is guilty.”

After the jury returned its verdict and the Meek was sentenced, Graziano said, “I’m mainly glad that he will be put away so he can’t hurt anybody else. He needs to be warehoused. I’m disappointed that my family had to go through this. I know he’s a sociopath and pathological liar, but listening to his lies, I felt like a victim all over again.”

T&D Staff Writer Thomas Brown can be reached by e-mail at tbrown@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5532.