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  Ex-Police officer sentenced to two years house arrest in shooting death of Johnston man web posted June 18, 2008  EDGEFIELD – Longtime Edgefield County law
enforcement officer and former courtroom bailiff Ollie Dwight Hall, 60,
charged
with murder in the death of Gregory
Jones in the fall of 2006,
will not see the inside of a prison cell.After entering a plea bargain at the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, Circuit Court Judge J. Cordell Maddox sentenced Mr. Hall to 10 years, but suspended the sentence to two years, along with five years of probation. The two years are to be served out in home detention. The sentence was exactly what defense attorneys James Whittle and Strom Thurmond, Jr., were looking to receive for the former lawman when they presented their facts in the case, citing Mr. Hall's long record as an officer of the law and the aggressive manner in which Mr. Jones (who was said to have had a blood-alcohol level three times the normal limit) was reported to have acted toward Mr. Hall on the evening in question. The defense stated that Mr. Jones directed verbal statements at Mr. Hall before striking him in the face on two occasions before Mr. Hall drew his licensed weapon and fired on Mr. Jones. The fatal shot came after the two men struggled over the weapon with a third man. "Mr. Jones had a violent reputation in the community," Whittle said. "Mr. Hall was struck in the face twice and was knocked nearly unconscious and we've heard that Mr. Jones was coming at him a third time. Mr. Hall attempted to leave and was then confronted again in the hallway." Many of Mr. Hall's former colleagues also spoke on his behalf before the judge. Mr. Hall, wearing a charcoal suit with a grey and red tie, became emotional several times during Tuesday's proceedings and including the moment when the facts in the case were being read. The tragic incident appeared to be replaying all over again in Mr. Hall's mind, ending with him shaking his head and dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief. One, two, three and four shots were fired. Mr. Hall said he regrets each and every one of them. "I apologize to the family," he said. "I am very sorry for what they have been through. I'm very sorry it ended the way it did. If I could turn back the hands of time I would." Meanwhile, the sentence was a blow to the attorney general's office handling the prosecution, which had asked for a sentence much closer to the 30-year maximum for voluntary manslaughter (two years is the minimum sentence). Attorney Robert Bogan said Mr. Hall's choice led to Mr. Jones' death. "When he reached this door (Mr. Hall) had a choice," Mr. Bogan said while pointing to a diagram of the home where the incident took place. "In that doorway he made a choice and turned right. That might not be murder, but it's not far from it. We feel the sentence should not be far from that either. Judge Maddox would eventually disagree with the prosecution. "I feel deeply for you," Maddox told the family of Mr. Jones. "The question for me is this. We're either dealing with cold-blooded murder or a situation that's not self defense but fairly close. I suspect that no one will ever really know what happened that night, except for Mr. Hall and God." Maddox then handed down his sentence of 10 years, suspended to two years with probation. Mr. Hall was led away from the courtroom accompanied by the loud sobbing and pained cries of anguish by several members of Mr. Jones' family, including his two daughters. ©
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