BASKERVILLE SENTENCED TO 30 YEARS

July 28, 2010
Contact: [email protected]
(Walhalla, SC). James M. Baskerville pled guilty today in Oconee General
Sessions Court to Voluntary Manslaughter and also to Death of a Child of in
Utero during the Commission of a Violent Crime. The Honorable Cordell
Maddox sentenced Baskerville to 30 years on each charge to be served
concurrently.
The Defendant met the victim, Karla Benson, in 2008 while they were
employed at Oconee Medical Center. At that time they began an on
again/off again relationship that lasted up until the time of Karla’s death. In
June of 2009, Karla began making plans to move out of State. Based on
emails between Karla and the defendant right before her death, it is obvious
that the defendant was still hoping that Karla would ask him to move away
with her and that he believed that he was the father of her child. On June 20,
2009, a friend of Karla’s took her to meet the Defendant at his workplace so
Karla could get money from the Defendant. About an hour later, the owner
of the business arrived to drop off some items and found the Defendant
inside bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound to his head and
immediately ran out and called the police. When law enforcement arrived,
they found Ms. Benson’s body in a storage room within the facility. Seneca
Police Department conducted the crime scene processing and investigation
in this case. Investigation and SLED analysis indicate that the same weapon
shot both the defendant and Ms. Benson. Ms. Benson’s autopsy revealed her
wounds could not have been self-inflicted, were consistent with homicide,
and that she was 20 weeks pregnant with a male child. Investigation into the
defendant’s gunshot wound revealed it was self-inflicted. Crime scene
processing did not indicate the presence of any 3rd party at the scene and
GSR analysis was positive for both the Defendant and the victim. The
defendant’s bag found at the scene contained ammunition for the firearm in
question. Bloody footprints throughout the crime scene were found to be
consistent with the shoes the Defendant was wearing. All DNA samples
collected at the scene belonged to either the Defendant or the victim.
“We are very pleased with the sentence imposed by the Judge in this case.
The loss of this mother and unborn child is a horrible tragedy. Many lives
were drastically changed by the events of that day.”