Third defendant in shooting of Rock Hill grandfather gets 7 years in prison

The third conspirator in the August 2014 shooting of a Rock Hill man was sentenced to seven years in prison Wednesday.

Ben Patrick Smith, 43, of Charlotte pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree burglary violent and criminal conspiracy charges. Smith had been charged with attempted murder, conspiracy, burglary, and weapons violations in the scheme that ended with Wayne Whiteside shot.

Whiteside’s granddaughter Kaylan, 22, was sentenced to 10 years in prison last month for her role in the scheme where she, Smith, and Wolfgang Liewald planned to tie up Whiteside at his Rock Hill home and steal his money. However, the plan went awry when Wayne Whiteside pulled a gun on his attackers.

Liewald, 32, who bought the gun for the scheme, shot Wayne Whiteside, who has had several surgeries but survived. Liewald was sentenced earlier this year to 17 years in prison after admitting to his role in the plot his lawyer described as “drug-induced misguided vigilantism.”

The plan came in the midst of a methamphetamine binge after Kaylan Whiteside told her co-conspirators her grandfather assaulted her as a child.

In 2005, Wayne Whiteside, a Vietnam War veteran, was charged with committing or attempting a lewd act on a minor in which his granddaughter was the alleged victim, court records show. He pleaded guilty in 2005 to felony assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and was sentenced to five years’ probation and was legally barred by state and federal law from possessing a gun.

This story was originally published September 30, 2015 at 11:24 AM with the headline "Third defendant in shooting of Rock Hill grandfather gets 7 years in prison."