BISHOPVILLE, S.C. — Jurors in South Carolina have found an inmate guilty of charges related to the death of a fellow inmate during the deadliest U.S. prison riot of the past quarter century.
The Lee County jury deliberated less than an hour Friday before finding Michael Juan “Flame” Smith guilty of assault and battery by the mob, gun possession and conspiracy for his role in the 2018 violence. Judge Ferrell Cothran Jr. gave Smith a 45-year prison sentence, although one five-year term will run concurrently with the next, news media reported.
Seven inmates were killed and 22 seriously injured in the riot at the maximum-security Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Columbia. One inmate described bodies “literally stacked on top of each other, like a macabre woodpile.”
Dozens of inmates have been indicted on charges related to the riots that took place in three dormitories, and a series of defendants began pleading guilty over the summer. But Smith was the first inmate whose case went to trial, according to news media. Within four days, he was convicted of charges related to the death of 33-year-old Cornelius McClary.
“This sends the message that the people of Lee County and the Department of Corrections will not tolerate this type of activity,” said Barney Giese, a former prosecutor appointed by the Corrections Department to help prosecute the riot cases.
In trial testimony, which focused largely on one dormitory, witnesses painted a picture of chaos at the prison and injured and dead inmates stemming from a brawl between rival gangs on April 15, 2018.
Jurors watched video clips showing the attack on McClary. Prosecutors said Smith was one of the blood gang members who chased McClary, who tried to escape. A pathologist who was a witness for the prosecution testified that McClary had been stabbed 101 times. Giese said the videos showed Smith pushing through a crowd of fellow Bloods to follow McClary, a Crips gang member who had fallen down a flight of stairs, and stabbing and punching him.
Another prosecutor, Margaret Scott, said it was a case of “the hunter and the hunted…predator and prey,” and that McClary was the prey.
Smith, 31, who took the stand Thursday, told the jury he stabbed McClary to death in self-defense. His attorney, Aimee Zmroczek, emphasized to juror testimony that Smith had feared for his life during the hours-long riot and that a friend of his had been stabbed to death in another dorm room earlier that evening.
Zmroczek also criticized the state Department of Corrections for failing to keep inmates in a safe environment. Corrections officials have attributed the orchestrated violence in part to illegal cellphones behind bars.
Department of Corrections Director Bryan Stirling said after Friday's ruling that inmate safety at Lee Correctional Institution has improved and more upgrades are on the way. When the riot occurred, all 1,000 inmates at the jail were classified as maximum security, but now only 30% have that status, he said, while the rest are classified as medium security.
Smith was jailed at the time of the riot after being convicted of attempted murder in the shooting of a University of South Carolina student. That conviction was overturned by the state Supreme Court three years ago. He has since been held in a detention center in Columbia.