Despite 2nd Amendment claim, Rock Hill man who didn’t show at trial gets prison
A Rock Hill man who did not show up for trial after being caught with drugs and an illegal gun — although he claimed he has a right to bear arms — has been sentenced to five years in South Carolina prison after a jury convicted him in his absence.
Jurors needed less than a half hour to find Jordan Thomas Ligon, 43, guilty of possession of a weapon by a person convicted of certain crimes and possession of methamphetamine after a three-day trial in York County criminal court that ended Wednesday.
Visiting Judge Eugene Griffith sentenced Ligon on Thursday morning to four years for the illegal gun and another year for the drugs.
Ligon did not show up for trial Monday despite being given notice, so the case went on without him, prosecutor Matthew Shelton said. After Griffith issued a bench warrant for Ligon’s arrest, deputies found him and brought him to the York County jail. Ligon’s lawyer, Caitlyn Caldwell of the York County Public Defender’s Office, told Griffith that Ligon waived his right to be present at trial.
Ligon reached for the gun in a holster during a June 2025 traffic stop, Shelton said. Ligon has a previous criminal conviction for hit and run resulting in death from two decades ago that makes his having a gun illegal, according to Shelton. He also has another drug possession conviction from 2019.
Ligon appeared in court Thursday for sentencing after deputies arrested him. He told Griffith he believed he had a “Second Amendment right” to have a gun and that he’s not a danger to anyone because of the conviction decades ago.
But Griffith told him the lawmakers have passed laws barring people convicted of some crimes from having a gun.
“I understand your comments but the General Assembly has passed laws and I gotta apply them,” Griffith told Ligon.
Judge: Officer de-escalated the situation with gun
Ligon was a passenger in a car last year when the vehicle was pulled over, said Shelton, who prosecuted the case with Jacob Selvey. Ligon became “verbally abusive,” using “salty language” toward the officer and reached for the gun, Shelton said.
The incident was captured on police cameras and played during the trial.
The officer, Rock Hill Police Department patrol officer, Quyen Kpa, showed a “tremendous amount of restraint” in “what could have been a very dangerous situation,” Shelton said.
Griffith said Officer Kpa “de-escalated the situation.” Caldwell also praised the officer’s handling of the incident.
“We can all agree officer Kpa did exactly what he was supposed to do,” Caldwell said.
A K-9 supervisor then went to the scene and less than a gram of meth was found.
Caldwell said that Ligon, during the verbal exchange, was asking questions and wanted a supervisor, which was his right. His language did “kind of inflame the situation,” Caldwell told Griffith before sentencing, but Ligon is not “someone out here toting guns and selling drugs.”
Shelton said after court that the prison sentence was appropriate. Caldwell declined to comment after court.
