Cop killer: Funeral video at trial unfair
COLUMBIA -- A man on South Carolina's death row for killing two police officers in a land dispute over a highway widening project said Wednesday his sentence should be overturned because prosecutors tried to play on jurors' emotions by showing scenes from one of the officer's funerals at trial.
Attorneys for Steven Bixby also argued before the state Supreme Court that the murder convictions should be overturned because the trial judge was wrong when he didn't allow an expert on title searches to testify about how hard it would have been for Bixby and his family to find the highway department's right of way on their land in Abbeville.
Bixby, 42, wasn't in the courtroom for the hearing. But it brought together a number of players involved in the case that started with the shooting of an Abbeville police officer on the porch of Bixby's parents' home in December 2003 and ended 12 hours later after one of the biggest gun battles state police could remember.
While Bixby awaits execution, his father, 80-year-old Arthur, has been involuntary committed to a mental institution after murder charges were dropped because he is unfit to stand trial. His mother, 77-year-old Rita, is serving a life sentence after being convicted as an accessory. Prosecutors said she planned the ambush on the next law officer to come to their home and took their disabled son away for his own safety.
In court Wednesday, Steven Bixby's lawyers said prosecutors at his trial shouldn't have been allowed to show a seven-minute video, which showed the flag ceremony, a staged emergency call meant to honor the fallen officer and other scenes from Abbeville County sheriff's Sgt. Danny Wilson's funeral. They said the tape's only purpose was to tweak the jury's emotions.
"We have to make sure a death sentence is handed back as a reasoned response, not out of passion or anger," attorney Robert Dudek said.
But prosecutors said the video properly showed the impact and devastation Wilson's killing had on his family. "It shows no outrage, it shows no call for vengeance. It only shows sadness," prosecutor Melody Brown said.
Bixby's attorneys also argued he deserves a new trial because their expert on title searches wasn't allowed to testify.
The Bixby family became angry before the shootings because highway workers started putting survey stakes in their yard to begin a widening project that took away about 20 feet of their land. State Department of Transportation officials showed the family documents proving they had the rights to the property, but the family couldn't find the information on their own and didn't trust the government, their attorneys said.
Keeping that witness away from the trial hampered Steven Bixby's arguments the shootings were in self-defense, Dudek said.
Prosecutors disagreed. "DOT officials spoke to the Bixbys repeatedly before they decided to arm themselves and declare war on law enforcement," Brown said.
Wilson was asked to visit the Bixbys after highway crews reported angry confrontations with the family the day before. Prosecutors said Wilson was ambushed as he knocked on the door, while the Bixbys said they only attacked the officer after he kicked in their door without a warrant. State constable Donnie Ouzts was killed in the yard when he came to check on Wilson.
The house, riddled with bullet holes, still stands along the now five-lane state Highway 72. Sheriff Charles Goodwin has asked zoning officials to have it condemned.
"We shouldn't have to ride by every day and see that reminder of the two men that had to give up their lives," Goodwin said.
Even though it has been six years, Goodwin said his officers make sure families of both men get Christmas and birthday cards and a shoulder to cry on. Wilson's name comes up at almost every staff meeting, the sheriff said.
"I keep Danny's picture on my desk," Goodwin said. "That way I can see his smiling face every morning when I start my day."