RICHBURG — The Richburg man charged in the July killing of a man authorities say raped his relative was indicted by a Chester County grand jury last week.

Sheriff’s deputies charged Antwan Terrill White, 21, with murder after they say he shot and killed 39-year-old Michael Jermaine Terry of Lancaster on July 29. Police said that just minutes before Terry was shot in the head and chest, he raped a 16-year-old girl that he was acquainted with.

That same girl was White’s relative. White has no prior criminal history.

Members of the grand jury assembled on Nov. 7 and signed a true bill indicting White for murder.

Police reports and an arrest warrant indicate that Terry went to the teenage girl’s Richburg home and raped her in the woods sometime between 9 p.m. and 9:48 p.m. on July 29. After police were called to the home, officers searched for Terry.

Moments later, they found his body on the road in a pool of blood, just a half-mile from the girl’s home. He was pronounced dead at 10:07 p.m. The Herald is not naming the road where the rape and the killing took place to protect the identity of the sexual assault victim.

According to police, White, after hearing about the assault, got into a car and pursued Terry. An unidentified witness told officials that White grabbed a shotgun, found Terry walking on the road and shot him in his chest. He then shot him again on the left side of his face, Assistant Sixth Circuit Court Solicitor Chris Taylor said in court in August.

A Circuit Court judge granted White a $40,000 bond, which his family posted several days later.

Now out of prison, White has returned to working full-time and supporting his family, said his defense attorney, Chester lawyer Arthur Gaston.

Prosecutors plan to honor Gaston’s request for a preliminary hearing, Taylor said, but won’t proceed until forensic evidence sent to the State Law Enforcement Division returns.

Those results will include evidence including the shotgun deputies recovered from the crime scene, Taylor said.

White maintains his innocence, Gaston said.

A date for a preliminary hearing has yet to be scheduled.

Unrelated Chester County case

In an unrelated Chester County case, officials are still waiting for Aris Nichols to undergo a mental evaluation meant to gauge his competency.

Sixth Circuit Court Judge Brooks Goldsmith in June ordered that Nichols receive a mental evaluation to determine if he’s competent to stand trial instead of setting the murder defendant’s bond.

Nichols, 39, is charged with attempted murder, possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature and death to a child in utero due to the commission of a violent crime.

On April 26, police were called to a home just west of downtown Chester found Brittany Jordan, 21, in a bedroom, bleeding from her neck and head, according to police and court documents.

Jordan was hospitalized in Columbia after the attack, but her unborn son, Tavaris, didn’t survive.

Police arrested Nichols, initially charging him with criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature. Days later, officials charged him with attempted murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

After prosecutors spent weeks researching a 2006 state law that identifies unborn children as victims of violent crime, they charged him with Tavaris’ murder, as well.

Instead of setting bond, a Sixth Circuit Court judge in June ordered that Nichols would receive a mental evaluation by the S.C. Department of Mental Health.

Nichols’ lawyer, Sixth Circuit Chief Public Defender Mike Lifsey, asked for the evaluation, arguing that his client has an extensive mental health history and hadn’t received a mental evaluation in several years.

“The process is ongoing,” Lifsey said Tuesday. “Results will be back hopefully in the next month or so.”

When defendants are evaluated, officials with the mental health department may have to speak to them more than once and administer tests before issuing a report, Lifsey said.

A report for Nichols, Lifsey said, hasn’t been completed. Once those results are returned, prosecutors will proceed with criminal charges and set scheduling for the case.

Jonathan McFadden 803-329-4082