Revenge killing gets SC man life in prison without parole

A revenge killing over the death of a friend has landed a 27-year-old Cayce man in prison for the rest of his life.

Michael Sulier III was sentenced Tuesday to life without parole after the former construction worker pleaded guilty to what Lexington County prosecutors say was a plot to avenge the death of Sulier’s close friend allegedly at the hands of the dead man’s brother.

Circuit Judge Knox McMahon imposed the sentence after Sulier admitted shooting Adam Berry, 22, near Gaston on March 4, 2015, and then setting Berry’s car on fire in Orangeburg County with him inside. Berry’s younger brother, Nicholas, is awaiting trial in the earlier killing of Sulier’s friend, Jamie Galloway, 24, authorities said.

It’s clear that Sulier “was lying in wait in plain view,” Judge McMahon said during a hearing at the Lexington County judicial center. “You were toying with the victim viciously.”

Galloway was fatally stabbed during a party at a Pine Ridge home in May 2014 while fighting with the Berry brothers, prosecutors said. Nicholas Berry was 17 when he was charged.

Sulier’s threats since then against the Berry brothers has led to Nicholas Berry being jailed separately from other Lexington County jail inmates until his trial.

Sulier repeatedly told acquaintances that killing Adam Berry “was his top priority” after Sulier got out of prison on unrelated charges, said assistant 11th Circuit solicitor Suzanne Mayes. “He was bragging and had much pride in killing Adam Berry,” she told the judge.

Adam Berry did not know Sulier and was unaware that Sulier was upset over Galloway’s killing, prosecutors said.

Through friends, Sulier learned that Adam Berry was living at a motel near I-26 in West Columbia. He went to the motel under the pretense of meeting and befriending Berry and his girlfriend the day before the killing, Mayes said.

The next day, Sulier persuaded Berry to give him a ride to the Gaston area. During the ride, Sulier pulled a gun and began questioning Berry about the circumstances of Galloway’s death, the prosecutor said.

Jason Chehoski, Sulier’s lawyer, said his client “snapped” during the ride and later pulled the trigger. Berry was shot in the head and neck, prosecutors said.

Chehoski, a Lexington County public defender, said Sulier had “very poor impulse control” that stemmed from a history of drug use and a bipolar disorder.

Mayes countered that it’s clear Sulier planned Berry’s death. “This murder was retaliation. Nicholas Berry killed (Galloway), and therefore he was going to kill his brother,” she said.

Lexington County sheriff’s deputy Miles Rawl, who lead the investigation, testified that Sulier “followed Wild West ideology by taking justice into his own hands.”

The defendant, who was stoic during most of Tuesday’s testimony, wept quietly as his relatives asked for a maximum sentence of no more than 40 years. Prosecutors already had dropped charges of kidnapping and unrelated offenses that involve domestic violence, cocaine distribution and assault of a jail guard during Sulier’s time in the Lexington County jail while awaiting trial.

Sulier’s grandmother Diane Boykin said her grandson “lost his way. He just got messed up with drugs and bad people.”

Grandfather Michael Sulier Sr. said his grandson’s short life “has pretty much been a rollercoaster.” The grandparents apologized to Berry’s family.

“I can’t and won’t turn a blind eye to a measure of justice in this,” the judge said in the end.

The family gasped when McMahon handed down the maximum punishment. The judge declined Boykin’s request to hug her grandson before he was taken away to prison.

Berry’s sister, Cassedria DeRosia, described her brother as a dedicated, unmarried father of two preschoolers. “They will never get to know what an amazing person he was,” DeRosia said. “He won’t be there when they need him the most.”

Just before the sentence was handed down, Sulier apologized to the family. But he denied planning to kill Berry, saying he asked for the ride with the intention of getting an explanation of how his friend was killed.

“I just wanted to get to the bottom of it,” Sulier said in a clear voice. Statements from others that he schemed to kill Berry are “fictitious,” the defendant said.

Asked by McMahon why he was carrying a pistol, Sulier replied, “I’ve always been paranoid.”

After the shooting, Sulier called a friend, Mark Hodges of Gaston, and asked for help, prosecutor said. They met near Hodges’ home, and Sulier asked, without explanation, for his friend to follow him.

Sulier drove Berry’s Mitsubishi sedan with the body inside to a wooded area near the Orangeburg County town of North, Mayes said.

Hodges stayed back in his truck but heard an explosion after Sulier set fire to Berry’s car, the prosecutor said.

Hodges is charged with accessory after the fact of murder for driving Sulier back home, Mayes said.

Law enforcement authorities asked for help in locating Berry when his family reported him missing, saying they suspected foul play.

After Berry’s death, Sulier spent two weeks “floating around with various friends” while talking about going to Mexico, the prosecutor said. But the defendant was arrested before he could leave.

This story was originally published June 1, 2016 at 7:51 AM with the headline "Revenge killing gets SC man life in prison without parole."