AG’s office gives up murder appeal in Kershaw County ‘stand your ground’ case

The S.C. attorney general’s office has quietly dropped an appeal of a state judge’s decision to grant a Kershaw County woman immunity from a murder prosecution in a “stand your ground” fatal shooting case.

The attorney general’s decision means that the woman, Sally Anne Memmert, will never have to stand trial in criminal court for shooting to death a mentally distraught young woman she had been trying to help. The woman entered Memmert’s Elgin home at night in 2012 and attacked her.

Had Memmert gone to trial and been found guilty of murder, she would have been sentenced to 30 years in prison to life with no parole.

In late 2014 , several months before Memmert’s murder trial was about to start, Judge Robert Hood held a hearing at which he heard testimony about the case from officers and witnesses. Last April, Hood ruled that Memmert was “immune from prosecution.” The 5th Circuit solicitor’s office appealed, and the attorney general’s office took over the case as it moved to the S.C. Court of Appeals.

“Our office decided not to move forward because evidence was presented at the hearing which supported Judge Hood’s findings,” said attorney general spokesman J. Mark Powell. “We did not believe there was an effective way to challenge some of those findings on appeal.”

Fifth Circuit Solicitor Dan Johnson said his office had appealed because it “respectfully disagreed” with Hood’s decision. Once the case is on appeal, it’s up to the attorney general to analyze the facts and controlling case law and decide whether to go forward, Johnson said.

“They concluded that the facts as presented no longer supported a viable appeal,” Johnson said in an email. “We understand and accept the AG’s determination.”

Memmert’s lawyer, Jack Swerling of Columbia, said last week that his client “was just totally relieved and happy about the decision.”

“At first, she just couldn’t believe it,” Swerling said.

Everyone involved agreed the case had numerous tragic dimensions, not the least of which it involved a mentally ill person who wound up being shot to death instead of getting the help she needed.

The dead woman, Petra Boykin, 29, was an Army veteran with two young children and a documented history of post-traumatic stress disorder. Her trials with mental illness included a history of violence, suicide attempts, depression, drug abuse, flying into rages and threatening people. In 2011, Boykin got in a fight with three Richland County deputies, kicking them and trying to bite them.

In the fall of 2011, Memmert invited Boykin – who had been kicked out of her parents’ home – to come to her Elgin house and live. During that time, Memmert didn’t charge rent, drove her places and babysat for her children. They celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas together.

In early January 2012, Boykin threatened Memmert at her home with a knife after Memmert asked her son not to use her computer for computer games. Memmert then called 911, and Kershaw County deputies came to the house. With deputies there, Memmert ordered Boykin to leave, and she did.

In the early morning hours of Jan. 17, 2012, Boykin came to Memmert’s house in Elgin to retrieve some of her clothes, which had been left on the porch in bags. Memmert had told her earlier the clothes would be on the porch.

When Boykin got to the house, around 3 a.m., she pushed her way in through the front door. On hearing someone enter, Memmert got out of bed and encountered Boykin in a front hallway. Then, as Boykin slapped, choked and shoved her, Memmert begged her to stop and told her she had a gun and would have to shoot her.

Memmert "had never been beaten like that before, was afraid, and was getting hurt," Hood wrote in his ruling. "It was at this time, feeling like she had no other options, being afraid for her life, the defendant pulled out the pistol and shot Ms. Boykin one time."

Prosecutors argued that Memmert had invited Boykin to get her clothes off Memmert’s porch, and therefore Memmert had invited Boykin to come inside her dwelling. But Hood ruled against them.

Swerling said Hood’s order is significant because it is among the first in the state, if not the first, where a judge has issued such a sweeping ruling, finding that multiple sections of the state’s "stand your ground" act applied to a case. He ruled that Boykin was an intruder, not a social guest, and even if she was a social guest, Memmert had a right to use deadly force once she was in fear for her life, Swerling said.

Swerling said, "Overwhelming evidence showed Sally Memmert did everything she could to avoid what happened. Although it is tragic because someone is dead, Sally clearly acted within her right of self defense under the stand your ground law and should not have to stand trial."

This story was originally published December 25, 2015 at 9:14 PM with the headline "AG’s office gives up murder appeal in Kershaw County ‘stand your ground’ case."