SC appeals court upholds man’s 50-year sentence in Lancaster nightclub mass shooting
Six years after a mass shooting at a South Carolina nightclub left two people dead and eight wounded, an appeals court has upheld the 50-year sentence and convictions against the Lancaster man who fired from the stage into the crowd.
S.C. Circuit Court Judge Brian Gibbons sentenced Breante Deon Stevens to 30 years for voluntary manslaughter and a consecutive 20 years for assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature after a 2021 jury trial. The jury also convicted Stevens of possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a violent offense.
Gibbons sentenced Stevens to the maximum allowed under South Carolina law for both the manslaughter and the assault.
Stevens, now 36 years old, appealed over claims the previous gun conviction charge should have been split off into a separate trial. Stevens alleged allowing the jury to hear he had a previous conviction, “improperly suggested to the jury he had a propensity for violence,” court records show.
In a unanimous opinion, the S.C. Court of Appeals said Stevens’ right to a fair trial was not denied by allowing his previous conviction into the trial. Stevens testified he was aware he illegally possessed a firearm and prosecutors stipulated in the trial Stevens had been convicted of a previous crime of violence, the appeals court said in an opinion released publicly Wednesday on the South Carolina judicial department website.
“We hold the danger of unfair prejudice from Stevens’s prior conviction of a crime of violence did not substantially outweigh its probative value,” the appeal court wrote.
Shootings drew national attention
The shooting at the Ole Skool club outside the city of Lancaster on Sept. 21, 2019 was covered by The Herald and other regional media -- and also by international organizations including Fox News, CNN, and others because of the number of victims.
The September 2019 shootout is believed to be the worst mass shooting in Lancaster County history, Sheriff Barry Faile said. Lancaster is located south of Charlotte and east of Rock Hill.
Henry Lee Colvin, 29, of Rock Hill, and Aaron Harris, 28, of Kershaw, were killed.
A few days after the shootings, Lancaster County deputies said they were seeking Stevens. After a national manhunt, police captured Stevens in Florida and extradited him back to South Carolina to face trial.
In court he claimed he was defending himself from others firing shots inside.
Prosecutors sought convictions for two counts murder and several counts of attempted murder along with weapons charges, but the defense countered there were others firing guns.
The Herald was the first media outlet to report Stevens’ convictions and sentencing in October 2021.
Police, prosecutors: Public safety the priority
Lancaster County Sheriff Barry Faile vowed after the shootings his department would protect the public. He told The Herald Wednesday after the appeals court decision deputies, state police, the FBI and others worked together to investigate Stevens for his role in “violence the likes of which we had not seen in Lancaster County.”
“I am happy to learn that Breante Stevens’ convictions and sentences have been affirmed by the South Carolina Court of Appeals,” Faile told The Herald. “There is never a good outcome when guns are fired inside a crowded club.”
A team of Lancaster County prosecutors in 6th Circuit Solicitor Randy Newman’s office led by Deputy Solicitor Melissa McGinnis convicted Stevens in the 2021 trial.
McGinnis said Wednesday prosecutors are pleased the appeals court upheld the sentence and convictions in a case crucial to public safety.
“A jury heard two weeks of testimony and rendered their judgment of Mr. Stevens,” McGinnis said. “The Honorable Brian M. Gibbons, who heard the same two weeks of testimony, gave Mr. Stevens a sentence that reflected his conduct, and we believe the community is a safer place with Mr. Stevens behind bars.”
Stevens is not eligible for parole and his prison sentence runs through 2062, according to the S.C. Department of Corrections.
Defense: Rule of law must be respected
Stevens’ appeal was argued by attorney David Alexander of the S.C. Commission on Indigent Defense. Efforts to reach Alexander Wednesday by phone at his Columbia office were unsuccessful.
Rock Hill lawyer Montrio Belton represented Stevens during the 2021 trial. Before the trial, he had asked Judge Gibbons to split off the weapons charges into a separate case but was denied.
“I do believe I was right in asking the court to split the firearm charge from the case,” Belton told The Herald Wednesday. “Yet I respect the decision of the trial court and the court of appeals. The rule of law is a foundational principle of the United States and our Constitution. As an attorney I have an ethical obligation to ensure that I abide by it, and I respect it.”
Stevens has the legal right to ask the S.C. Supreme Court to review the case, Belton said.
