It’s not yet clear what the South Carolina Supreme Court’s ruling this week will mean for the two men on York County’s death row.
South Carolina hasn’t executed anyone since 2011. But this week, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that the methods the state can use to execute convicted murderers, including the firing squad, the electric chair and lethal injection, are legal. The two local men who could be affected by the ruling are Mar-Reece Hughes, who was sentenced to death in 1995 for killing York County Officer Brent McCants during a traffic stop, and James “Jimmy” Robertson, who was sentenced to death in 1999 for beating his parents to death.
Hughes is now 58. Robertson is 50. Both have spent exactly half their lives on death row. They are the only two from York County among the 32 men on South Carolina’s death row.
Hughes’ attorney and court documents say the man has been declared incompetent since he was placed on death row. So, unless there is a change in status, Hughes may never be executed.
“If (Hughes) is incompetent, he cannot be executed,” said William Harry Ehlies II of Greenville, who is the attorney for both Hughes and Robertson.
According to Ehlies and state and federal court documents, Robertson’s case is still on appeal, even after 25 years.
Ehlies declined to comment on specific details of each man’s case, saying, “The law works, and it must be respected.”
Hughes – a police officer shot dead
York County Sheriff’s Office Deputy McCants, 23, was shot and killed in 1992 during a traffic stop when two men attacked him. Dwayne Eric Forney and Hughes were captured hours later after a manhunt.
Forney was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, where he remains today.
Hughes was sentenced to death by a jury.
Hughes has been incompetent to be executed for more than a decade, court records show. He was competent to stand trial when he was convicted, records show.
Myra McCants, the victim’s mother, lived in anger for 28 years after that 1995 conviction because Hughes was not executed. She died in 2023.
In dozens of interviews with The Herald over the decades, she spoke out against the system in which the death penalty is imposed but not carried out.
“My son was given the death penalty,” Myra McCants said before she died. “No trial. No lawyers. Death.”
Robertson — killing for money
Robertson was convicted of murdering his parents, Earl and Terry Robertson, for $2 million in cash and insurance. He was captured in Pennsylvania after the bodies were found.
Robertson left a trail of credit card purchases and evidence that he threw in trash cans along the road from York County to Philadelphia, police and prosecutors said. A neighbor also saw Robertson leave his parents’ house in his father’s car that night in November 1997, after another person found the bodies, officials said.
When a date was set for Robertson’s execution in 2010, he filed a lawsuit in federal court asking for a stay of execution until the appeals process was completed.
According to state and federal court records and Ehlies, his attorney, Robertson’s case is now on appeal to the South Carolina Supreme Court.
Prosecutors: Guilty without a doubt, deserves death penalty
Current 16th Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett and former attorney Tommy Pope, now a South Carolina Statehouse representative, prosecuted Hughes and Robertson.
Both said this week that there is no doubt that Robertson and Hughes committed the crimes for which they were convicted and received the legal punishment the state allowed. The evidence against both was overwhelming and compelling, they said.
“There is no question about their guilt,” Brackett said of Hughes and Robertson.
Brackett, who has expressed public concern for years about the impact of death penalty appeals on the families of crime victims, said there is no timetable for hearing either case in appeals courts.
“Given the attitude, there’s no end in sight,” Brackett said. “They’re still on death row.”
Both Brackett and Pope remained in contact with Myra McCants until her death. Pope said the court’s ruling this week should mean the state can now legally carry out executions that have eluded victims.
“The court’s decision is a victory for crime victims who often wait years for justice for the murder of a loved one,” Pope said. “Adding the additional methods of execution will hopefully eliminate the logjam that clever defense attorneys have used for years to prevent these rightful sentences from being carried out, causing even more heartache for victims.”
Death Penalty Opponents: Doesn’t Make Public Safer
But in a statement after the South Carolina Supreme Court ruling, members of the organization Alternatives to the Death Penalty called the decision, which could reinstate executions, “irresponsible.” The group said the death penalty is ineffective.
“Killing the 32 people already on death row does not contribute to security,” the statement said.
Rock Hill defense attorney Chris Wellborn said he could not comment on York County’s two pending death row cases. He did say the court’s ruling means capital punishment methods are constitutional, but that the death penalty does not make society safer.
The death penalty is not an option in most Western countries, Wellborn said. And besides, a murder conviction in South Carolina carries a mandatory sentence of 30 years to life in prison, Wellborn said.
There are still concerns about innocent people whose cases are later overturned by DNA or other evidence and who are sentenced to death, Wellborn said.
