CRISP SENTENCED TO LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE

Denisona Crisp pled guilty to Murder and Possession of a Weapon during the Commission of a Violent Crime today in Anderson County General Sessions Court before the Honorable J. C. Nicholson. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder and five (5) years for the weapons charge. 

In 2001, the defendant was sentenced to death based on the murders of Jeolani Blackwell and Clarence Watson. On January 24, 2005, the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Clarence Watson’s murder based on the inappropriate colloquy between the Judge and the defendant during the guilty plea. Upon review of the evidence, re-interviewing all prospective witnesses and lengthy evaluation of the substantially limited forensic evidence, Solicitor Adams determined that there was insufficient evidence to proceed in an actual capital trial. The lapse in times since the incident has limited the witnesses’ abilities to recall events and to testify in a consistent manner.