Defendants sentenced in Leaphart murder case 4/29/2009 12:46 AM By MIKE GELLATLY Staff writer
The remaining four defendants in the kidnapping, torture and murder on Jeremy Leaphart were sentenced Tuesday.
Over two days, all eight of those charged in the case have been sentenced to a combined 186 years in jail. The group of Aiken County and Batesburg men snatched the cognitively delayed Leaphart on Christmas Eve 2007. They beat him to extort information he did not have, tortured him with fists and a hot clothes iron before one of them executed him and then threw his corpse to rot on a trash pile.
One man, Frankie Gantt pleaded to the murder of Leaphart and received a 45-year sentence that he will serve day-for-day.
Seven others who were in some way involved in the kidnapping pleaded to that crime. The three most culpable, Johnnie Walker, Sheldon Oakman and Darrell "Stevie" Williams, all received the maximum term for the crime - 30 years.
Walker brought the victim to the site of the beating, Walker burned Leaphart with the iron and Oakman gave Gantt the final shotgun shell used to execute the victim. These four were sentenced Monday.
On Tuesday, John O. Oakman, Andre Norris, Marrion Abner and Ronnie Bower faced Circuit Court Judge Doyet "Jack" Early and each was given 17 years in prison.
Unlike Monday where the four were individually sentenced, Tuesday's three all had a chance to plead their case and then at the end of the day Early brought all four and their attorney's back to court to sentence them as one.
Early addressed the court after an in-chambers discussion and explained the two levels of involvement in the crime. He dubbed Gantt, Walker, Sheldon Oakman and Williams as the "major players."
Each of the other four defendants had pleaded with the judge of their limited, or even complete lack of involvement. However, when peppered with questions from Early, asked why they did not run away, call police that day or two week later or at least tell the grieving family where the body of the victim was disposed of, all balked or cited fear of coconspirators.
"These young men, I don't feel their involvement is as important as those yesterday," Early said. "My assessment, pretty much, coincided with how law enforcement looked at it."
Solicitor Strom Thurmond Jr. thanked all involved in the case after it was completed, including his own Chief Assistant, Bill Weeks, who has been working on this case for more than a year.
He noted that this case included more codefendants than any other in recent history.
"Any multi-defendant case is inherently difficult in prosecution due to the multiple statements," Thurmond said
Weeks described cases of this magnitude, which hinge on the statements of eight self-serving codefendants as "like threading a needle out the window of a moving car."
Thurmond also reserved special praise for those who have lost most.
"The family has been exceedingly gracious under some difficult circumstances," Thurmond said.
Contact Mike Gellatly at mgellatly@aikenstandard.com.
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Comment Title: it's all wrong
i really don't think that everyone had a part in this crime like the person said below this was a case of a mad man trying to be an AMERICAN GANSTER and found out if you be the big man you will end up with a big charge. so i think frankie threaten the other 7 casue he was man enough to go down by himself... (JUNIOR #32) (J.J. CLASS OF 2010) IT OKAY JUST PRAY AND DON'T CONTRADICT YOURSELVES
Posted by: Giv up the Ghetto mentality!Get some goals!Parents stop failing your children! On: 5/4/2009
Comment Title: This is alll messed up
Jeremy lost his life over nothing and that's ridiculous. I know of all 8 of the guys and kno a few personally. I think ppl should luk at this and learn from this situation. No it doesn't take 8 ppl to kill 1 person..I believe everyone knows who tha culprit was, but damn could someone had stopped this from happening? Yes I believe about 4 or 5 were scared of one of the guys, but yall knew he WAS NOT ur friend and had no bizness hangin around him n da first place. I believe ppl tried to tell them that.....The ppl dat I think need to learn the MOST from this situation r the parents and up and coming parents! I believe some of these kids parents failed them! When raising a young black man in this society you have to make sure u do YOUR job! It's hard enough out here as it is and it's even harder being a black man. It's starts from them being babies. You should not gamble and drink with your kids. You should not uphold their wrongdoings! you should not allow them to just quit school! You should encourage them to do better, not just give up on them when they do bad in school. Look at all these boys for instance....look at their families...look at how they grew up. Their parents r going to have to live with where they went wrong. These were young boys. I kno many of them never had any type of discipline or structure in their lives. Some of their parents didn't even try to make their kids go to school or become involved with their education to make sure that they didn't fail! Some of these guys were just in school and didn't understand the work...that just built up anger and frustration, but instead of you all tryna to help them, PARENTS,YOU gave up! YOU let them quit school with a 9th grade education or less! Who would want to hire them? Think People! This is a cycle! Parents u need to step up. Many of these guys had no choice but to get it how they live (meaning rob, sell drugs,etc), because they had no ambition, no structure, no goals! They were not equipped with the correct tools to make it in this world. And to the baby mama....boo get it together! Make sure u equip your child with the correct tools to make it in this world. Their father is gone for a long time, so you gotta step it up. Make sure they get an education.....giv up that ghetto mentality......and u need to get educated too. Just because he has a child does not excuse him murdering someone else's child, or mean that he should get any special treatment. Make sure your child has a good life! Make sure he has respect for u and other ppl. I believe that a lot of the ppl who are directly affected by this situation: parents, the 8 boys, their "baby's mamas" etc, need to re-evaluate their lives. These kids aren't monsters, they were just failed by their parents and a f'd up system. When u fail ur kids when they are young...look what happens! These parents gotta live with their mistakes and the baby's mama's shouldn't make the same mistakes with their kids. It's not cute when ur kids curse! It's not appropriate to let their babies shake their ass dancing! It's not cute when ur child doesn't kno his abc's and 123's but can rap lyrics! Come on girls. Some of u didn't make wise choices by gettin pregnant by some of these guys. You knew they had no job and no future, but u chose to let them get u pregnant and YOU were tied down. Ladies you r better than that! Ain't no baby gon keep no man!(I kno that was gramatically incorrect, but it reaches who I need it to). 8 lives are over, but we as black ppl can learn from this. My condolences go to the Leaphart family. I'm interested in how they feel about this situation. May God Bless everyone directly affected by this situation. This is a messed up situation
Posted by: On: 5/1/2009
Comment Title: what about ur baby daddy
have we forgotten whose really the victim? they all got what they deserved rather they actually had hands on or not, they were there and that's all that matters. and for the baby mama, what about jeremy he'll never be able to father a child because of the actions of them all. it may have only taken one to step in and say no. no one feels sorry for either of the defendants, there was only one victim here
Posted by: On: 4/30/2009
Comment Title: what is a ring leader
SHLEODN WAS GIVING 30 YEARS BECAUSE HE HAS A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA AND HAD A JOB AND BEENING IN THE WORNG PLACE AND AT THE WRONG TIME AND JJ,RONNIE, MARION,ALL HAD 7 GRADE EDUCATION WHY DIDNT ANY CHECK THERE SCHOOL RECORD WHO WAS EXPELED WHO HAS NOT BEING IN SCHOL SINCE THE 7 GRADE ANY CHILD CAN COME UP WITH A STORY CHECK RSM HIGH DONT FORGET THE MIDDLE SCHOOL CAUSE THAT FAR HAS SOME GOT
Posted by: On: 4/29/2009
Comment Title: The Kids
Did anyone happen to think about the kids that are going to be without there father?Did anyone consider that my daughter will never have the privilege of getting to know her Daddy?My heart goes out to the Leaphart family and for all there pain and suffering but what about my child who is still walking this earth?
Posted by: On: 4/29/2009
Comment Title: This is just RIDICULOUS!!!
My remorse goes out to the Leaphart family, but I feel that some of the boys were wrongly sentenced! I went to school with some of them, & I know all of them! Sheldon Oakman would never even fight in school, let alone do this to another human being! Everyone who knows Sheldon knows that he isnt capable of doing such a thing! I really wish the boys would have gotten together & told the truth bc I feel that Gantt threatened these boys and had them scared to go to the police! It doesnt take 8 boys to do such a thing & I dont think all 8 played a part in it! They may have known abt it but I just dont think they all played a part! God knows what happened & who is telling the truth so u better believe that everyone is going to get what they deserve! Sheldon Oakman and Marion Abner Jr, hold your heads up and we LOVE you!
Posted by: On: 4/29/2009
Comment Title: Setup ?
Yes it was a setup and harmless Jeremy Leaphart walked right into it. Leaphart was no Saint but he was certainly closer than any of these eight ever hoped to be. Leaphart could not have defended himself against any one person much less this gang of eight. I talked with each of these defendants in my search for Leaphart, all denied any knowledge of even knowing him. After Williams was arrested he wanted to make a deal, "get me ouy of jail and I'll take you to leaphart" NO DEAL. They all clearly understood that if any one of them wanted to speak up and tell the truth, such action would be given favorable consideration. No one knew anything, this was before anyone was arrested. All knew the location of Jeremy Leaphart's body. The crime of kindapping does not end with the death of the victim. I certainly hope the Judge denies any Motions for Recosideration on any of these sentences. They all got off lite.
Posted by: On: 4/29/2009
Comment Title:
I think that its really sad when family hang each other sheldon only told the thurth about the case trying to see good in all that was involved and not sit them out to be the bad guys and hurt him self but the weapon formed against him will not prosper one thing i know when you dig a hole for some body you better dig a hole for your self cowards they say the tongue is a legal weapon and you don't need a license to carry it people with diarrhea at the mouth don't you forget to wipe.
Posted by: On: 4/29/2009
Comment Title: jeremy leaphart case
I feel that this was a set up because how in the world was Marion Abner afraid of Sheldon Oakman who wouldnt even hurt a fly lying gets you no where but the truth will come out so just rest ashore John Oakman jr,Marion Abner,Andre Norris and Ronnie Bowers.
Posted by: S. McIntosh On: 4/29/2009
Comment Title:
Excellent Job by all however you failed to mention one very important person who did an excellent job in this case also. That person was Ms. Debbie Truesdale of the Solicitor's Office. (behind the scene at all times) Thanks to all of you.
Posted by: On: 4/29/2009
Comment Title: WOW
Strom Thurmond has gotten more murder cases thru court in the past 4 months than Barbara Morgan did in the past 4 YEARS.. You go Strom..Oh and let's not forget that Barbie kept saying there were so many issues to deal with...
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