mr rowland
during my time on the bench i have
presided over many murder trials
and they typically involve shootings
and with the
what seems to be an epidemic of criminal
activity now
on a monthly basis we encounter
people accused of murder
people convicted of murder
this is the first time however
that i presided over a case
where a victim was stabbed 120 times
the last case i participated in
where a victim was stabbed and tortured
resulted in
a jury imposing
the death penalty
which in this state is defined as
murder accompanied by aggravating
circumstances
and certainly a kidnapping is an
aggravated circumstance and i hear a lot
of mothers
tell me what a good child
their child is
and quite often i have to unfortunately
tell the same mothers
and fathers that your child was a good
child
but that's when he was a child
and my heart goes out to the rolling
family
as well as the josephson's family
my heart goes out to someone from
the same part of the state that i am
from you know you
participate in sports and at least
clarendon i presume you've
played basketball against ce murray did
you
my high school so
i take no joy whatsoever
when i looked at the map that was
shown to the jury the telephone towers
when the officer witness testified that
there's another
tower over here the map
showed that that tower is in king street
where my chambers are
so this is painful
but not nearly as painful as the
suffering
by the justice and family
is there anything you would like to say
um
i know i'm innocent um
but i guess what i know what i think
really doesn't matter
i just wish the state would have
would have done more in finding out who
the actual person was
instead of being satisfied with
with detaining me and improving
my guild
i feel like they if they would have done
further
research in certain areas
and i've sentenced a number of murderers
many of whom have confessed and i asked
them what
tell me about tell me about the murder
tell me about the time you pulled the
trigger
and i have yet to have one who could go
back there
everyone each of them have blotted the
whole thing out of their mind
as if it never occurred and they can't
take their mind
back there sufficient to tell me
and i imagine they live in torment the
rest of their days
because they can
the evidence in this case was
you know i i chose the word an avalanche
of evidence and now i've seen it
repeated a few times
i've heard it repeated
but the evidence in this case was so
overwhelming
law enforcement in this case did
the best job of investigating a case
that i have seen
over the past 30 or 40 years
the every law enforcement officer
that was available participated
apparently
in working in this case
and if there were a thousand roads
each road left to you led to you
there's a thousand trails each trail
led to you all of the evidence
every speck of the evidence
not simply beyond a reasonable doubt
but as high as standard as the law
requires all points your guilt
and i am absolutely satisfied
i can uncertainly understand the family
being in
total disbelief
that the child that they raised could do
such a
heinous thing could commit such a murder
and i have dealt with the heartless
and you fall into that category a person
without
any remorse whatsoever
a person who is totally emotionless
and in the law we call it a depraved
heart
and it would be absolutely
astonishing amazing to me
to for the truth to be that you
have engaged in this activity
all of a sudden that there are not
signs that your family can point to
that your friends can point to
where if some intervention had taken
place
this young lady would have been
protected
i don't know that but as much as your
mom's
feels in the bottom of her soul or pit
of her stomach
about you i feel that same thing based
on my experience
and based on my observing
you and witnessing the evidence in this
case
so i want to thank the jury for your
focus on this case i noticed that you
all were
totally engaged and tuned thank you very
much
on behalf of the citizens of richland
county and the
citizens of the state of south carolina
and south carolina is a wonderful state
a lovely place and
people from all over the country
particularly the northeast
choose south carolina because of its
beauty and charm
and people and colombia
for all of the same reasons because
we live in such a wonderful state
such a diverse state where there
are opportunities for everyone
and certainly opportunities for you and
for you to have attended
south carolina state university
if your parents have given you as much
as they gave you
and for you then your life story to end
right here at this point in time of
course your life story doesn't end but
this is a
certainly a stop along the way it is a
tragedy
and whatever tragedy
that cause or cause or causes
these demons to reside within your
soul and spirit i don't know
maybe at one point in time since this is
not a death penalty case
they can be exercised
exercised out of you
you know mr um goldberg made his closing
argument and talked about in the end the
consequences that would have had to
exist
in order for this not to be you
that someone would have had to
steal your car
steal your car keys
samantha kill her with your
tool then bury her in your home
territory
then miraculously
get the car back to you in time for you
to go to the atm
and sumter and and here in columbia
then turn over your car back to you
with all the bloods throughout it all
of samantha's blood except for several
teaspoons
and the story goes on and on
the evidence is so substantial in this
case
pointing to your guilt and i emphasize
that and re-emphasize it because
of the horrific and most brutal nature
of this crime
it could not be worse it's the most
severe murder
that has occurred that i
have been a witness to as far as
presiding in court
or participating in as a lawyer
and for whomever asked me for leniency
and that's not part of my dna
you know i have two daughters one of
whom
sit in this seat more often than i do
and another of whom live in a city who
have to encounter people on a daily
basis
and i have sons i would like to think i
know my sons and my daughters
very well
certainly
i would be in disbelief if any of them
were to find themselves standing in a
spot like you
but even more so
the terror imposed on that their child
and the pain and grief that you've
caused
she was an amazing person an amazing
human being and the testimony is here
and she obviously put up an amazing
fight
against you
and left a sufficient trail for the jury
to see
what you did now you're not a
a dumb person you're not an
unintelligent person
uh you you you have a
you you've been educated trained and you
have a
degree of intelligence you certainly
have the ability to choose different
course
but there's no perfect crime
these days with forensic evidence
your whole 24 hours
was recreated almost
minute by minute mile by mile
digit by digit that's led you here and
you've now been found guilty
and sentencing in this case is not
difficult
sentence in this case is easy
though painful it may be the sentence of
the court for murder
is that you be committed to the state
department of corrections
for life
any other sentence that can be imposed
will be
concurrent with life since you
only have one life and that sentence
must be served for the remaining days
of your natural life
that's sentence of the court
if you remove mr
from the courtroom mr rover
just as a comment regarding mr
rowland being able to
interact with his family during the
trial
first he was chained we would we would
never let a person who's incarcerated
roam freely and he was chained and
guarded by law enforcement
but i believe in the presumption of
innocence
and um
for a person not to be punished prior to
conviction
thank you all very much uh thank you all
for the job well done
thank you for the manner in which all of
you have acted
in the courtroom and ladies and
gentlemen you have done your service
on jury duty you may
retire congratulations uh
on a job well done madame for lady
and all of you i don't know who did the
best job uh
no all was painful but each of you all
performed and did your jobs
equally um especially to the law student
back there who's given me his role his
403 already
to sign
the
i'm sure it will be a lesson that she
will not duplicate
in law school and at an opportunity that
samantha will not have
an opportunity sadly will not have an
opportunity to experience
so thanks to all uh court is
adjourned george if he'll go this way
please follow the bayless
you