COLUMBIA, S.C. _ Two South Carolina inmates serving life sentences for murder each were given additional life sentences this week for the mass killings of four fellow inmates in 2017.
In two brief, unpublicized hearings Thursday afternoon at the Richland County courthouse, Circuit Judge De'Andrea Benjamin gave Denver Simmons, 38, and Jacob Philip, 28, four life sentences each for the brutal killings of four other inmates.
Simmons, of Colleton County, pleaded guilty to four killings; Philip, of Berkeley County, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to the four killings.
Simmons and Philip were already in prison serving life sentences for double murders. Each had killed a woman and her child in separate incidents. Now, each man has six life sentences. They are not eligible for parole.
Shortly after the April 2017 killings, which were carried out execution-style in a mental health ward on a weekday while guards were away, Simmons and Philip confessed. The inmates they killed were Jimmy Ham, 56, of Darlington; Jason Kelley, 35, of Gaffney; John King, 52, of Greenville County; and William Scruggs, 44, of Anderson County.
The case was eligible for the death penalty since it involved multiple killings.
But Deputy 5th Circuit Solicitor Dan Goldberg, who spoke for the prosecution, told the judge that families of the four murdered inmates did not want prosecutors to seek the death penalty. Also, Goldberg said at the hearing, the state of South Carolina is unable to obtain chemicals needed for lethal injection, according to a lawyer in the courtroom.
"The four families were unanimous in that they did not want to pursue it," Goldberg said Friday in an interview with The State newspaper. "That was a significant part of our decision _ what they wanted to see happen."
Death penalty cases are not only long and expensive _ jury selection alone can take weeks _ but very emotional for the victims' families, Goldberg said in the interview, adding there was no guarantee they would have gotten a death penalty verdict, "especially in light of the fact that one of the guys (Philip) had some pretty serious mental issues."
And the families understood that if a Richland jury did give one or both the death penalty, there was no certainty that any execution would ever be carried out, Goldberg said.
The families also knew that Simmons' and Philip's motive for killing the four prisoners was to get the death penalty because they did not want to spend years in prison and die there.
"The families would rather they be in prison than give them what they wanted," Goldberg said.
Family members of the four victims were on hand, but they made no statement.
No members of the news media were notified of the hearings or their outcome, either before or after the sessions.
Fifth Circuit Solicitor Byron Gipson was in the courtroom, as well as Department of Corrections Director Bryan Stirling and State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel. They did not speak.
Philip participated in the hearing via Skype from Gilliam Psychiatric Hospital, a secure prison facility within the Kirkland complex.
Simmons, escorted by four corrections officers, was manacled hand and foot and on a leash.
Warrants issued by SLED, which investigated the killings at Stirling's request, said that Simmons and Philip had lured the four other inmates into a cell and strangled them one at a time with an electrical cord and a broomstick tourniquet.
At the time, the multiple murders inside a supposedly high security prison received national publicity, including a telephone interview Simmons gave to The Associated Press in which Simmons explained how and why he killed his victims. In the interview, Simmons told the reporter that Scruggs came into his cell thinking he would be treated to some cookies, and Ham was lured by the promise of snorting some crushed pills.
Evidence showed that the killings took place over a roughly two-hour period in Simmons' cell, from about 7:45 a.m. to shortly before 10 a.m.
"They get the first guy to come in there _ they attack him, they strangle him until he's done _ and then they put him under the bed in the cell. A short time later, they are out and about, and they get another guy to come in the cell, and when he walks in, the same thing. And they put him on top of the bed. They do that four times," Goldberg said.
After that, Simmons and Philip walked down a prison hallway until they found a health care counselor and told him, "You might want to go check cell 261 when you get a second," Goldberg said. "They didn't try to run or hide or anything."
One body was under the bed, two were on top of the bed, and one was on the floor, Goldberg said. "It's horrible."
Richland County Coroner Gary Watts told reporters he had never heard of four murders taking place inside a state prison at one time.
Along with the confessions, evidence in the case included prison video that showed Philip and Simmons escorting their victims, one by one, into Simmons' cell. Philip and Simmons were seen exiting, but not their victims.
Kirkland Correctional Institution, where the killings took place, is one of the state's high-security facilities. It is part of the Broad River Complex off Broad River Road, about a 10-minute drive from the popular Harbison shopping area.
Fifth Circuit Public Defender Fielding Pringle represented Philip. Midlands attorney Jack Duncan represented Simmons.
Civil lawsuits against the corrections department, brought by families of the slain inmates, are still pending in state court. The department does not comment on pending litigation, spokeswoman Chrysti Shain said Friday.
Stirling on Friday issued a statement thanking his department's internal affairs unit, SLED and the solicitor's office for their handling of the case.
