Four men have been arrested in a bizarre Christmas day “lynching” in Indian Land, South Carolina. The victim was Ronnie Gene Wallace, 42, shown to the left.
Wallace was reportedly attacked and beaten with sticks and 2-by-4 boards by four Indian Land men.
The Wallace family live near the suspects and apparently had been feuding all day.
Arrested were Steven Ray Steen, 22; Marty Player, 24; Evan Starck, 28; and Shawn Starck, 33.
What is most interesting in these case is that fact that “lynching” in South Carolina does not require an actual lynching. Rather it is defined as an attack by a mob, which results in a death.
For the full story, click here.
I agree with you Evan. When it first happened, I reserved comment because I didn’t know the whole story, and figured I wouldn’t get the whole story by reading the papers. I’ve been around long enough to know that the papers only print what is “sexy”. Self defense is so boring, it sounds much better to make it out to be a true “lynching”.
When I first heard the story, I thought to myself, “There’s got to be more to it than what they’re reporting. I can’t picture Evan (or Shawn) doing that.”
Hey what a bunch of Bullshit, Im still waiting on trial, but when the facts came out it was obvious that I defended myself from a very violent,drug abused,malisiously intended man who has a track record two miles long for home invasion & aggrivated assault. frankly Im amazed at peoples quick judgment before the facts came out. I did 27 days in jail & untill this day am charged with 1st degree murder & 1st degree lynching witch bith carry life to death!! Im still waiting on trial & have had numerous attournes beg me for this case because it is soooo clearly self defense that they want to be famous for it. I just hope the day of trial that I wont be a pawn in Lancasters so called justice system!!
I am from Indian Land, SC, and I can tell you that we are just as horrified as anyone else. Enough with the SC bashing. This sort of thing does NOT happen here all the time. In fact, it is the first murder in Indian Land since 1999.
Furthermore, I know all of these guys. Two of them are from Boston, one from Chicago, not sure where the other one is from, but he moved here from somewhere else. In other words, not “born & bred” in SC.
So much for the indigenous Southerner theory.
Bizarre lynching in South Carolina? Isn’t that a contradiction in terms?
Robert:
Your use of the first person in your recounting of the “ride-a-long” is a little disturbing.
These felons were probably Texans who got lost and ended up in South Carolina.
WTF is up with SC? I’m not much for the “Santa Fe, NM is one of the global locus points of energy flows…” kookiness, but if there’s a convergence of “stupid energy” and “crazy energy” it would seem to be in SC.
I hate to paint with a broad brush…but doesnt seem like things ever change much in the ole south. Back in the 60’s I was stationed at Shaw AFB…we trained pilots for the rf4c and rb66s..anyway back then it was remarkable for many of us that here was one of the original 13 colonies/states and it was backward as all getout…Hell Im from Missouri not the most progressive state youll find, but way ahead of the fine folks of the great state of South Carolina.
squeal like a pig!
You can almost hear the banjo music in the background.
Yessah, thems foor fine lookin’ upstandin’ SC citizens an not nary a one inbred amonst ‘da clan; *lynchpens* theys called down yunner ’cause theys a’goin’ to the pen for lynchin’.
South Carolina’s lynching law is regularly used against gang violence. If death results, it is Lynching in the First Degree (max 40 yrs./min 5 years). If death is not the result, Lynching in the Second Degree is the charge (max 20 yrs./min 3 years)
In 2002, I visited some friends in SC. A long-time friend, a police sergeant, invited me to go on a “ride-a-long”. One of our calls was to an old man who was severely beaten by a group of 4 youths. We managed to apprehend one of the youths. He was 14, and cocky as hell. Much of his cockiness stemmed from being 14. He thought he would get off with a slap on the wrist because he was a juvenile. Imagine his surprise when he was charged as an adult.
Stel, excellent observation. the linked article says the attackers were distant cousins of the victim so they appear to be related to each other, maybe too much so.
Is it just me or are the four men who were charged actually the same man in slightly different disguises?
http://media.wcnc.com/images/122709-Indian+Land+Lynching+Suspects.jpg
Sounds like a good definition to me. So would it be appropriate to say? It beginning to smell a lot like lynching there’s hate in the air.