RIDGELAND, SC (October 27, 2017) – Two Hampton County men have been convicted of forcing their way into the home of a 32-year-old Ridgeland man and shooting him to death while four juveniles were in the house.
Casey Kason Jones Jr., 31, and Jarod Bostick, 28, were found guilty Thursday of the 2015 murder of Jeremiah Wilson, 32. They also were convicted of first-degree burglary and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime after a three-day trial in Jasper County General Sessions Court.
On Friday, both defendants received 50-year sentences – 30 years for murder, 15 for burglary and five for the weapon charge, to be served consecutively.
“Not only did they kill a man in his home, (Wilson’s) 11-year-old son was standing there when he answered the door, so these defendants laid eyes on him and knew he was there before they killed his father,” Assistant Solicitor Mary Concannon Jones of the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office said. “They knew what they were doing and had zero regard for the children who were there.
“These kids have been forever changed.”
Mary Jones, who tried the case, is a member of the Solicitor’s Office Career Criminal Unit. That team prosecutes the circuit’s most serious and habitual offenders. It has earned convictions against 39 of 42 defendants in 2017.
Casey Jones’ previous convictions include second-degree burglary and strong-armed robbery from 2009, which resulted in a 10-year sentence that was suspended to six years imprisonment and five years of probation. Bostick has previous convictions for shoplifting (2012) and forgery (2013).
Jasper County Sheriff’s Office deputies were sent to a home on Clover Circle in Ridgeland on June 3, 2015, after receiving a report of a gunshot victim there. They arrived to find Wilson lying dead just inside his open front door.
Deputies also found video surveillance cameras throughout the home and a television in the living room displaying feeds from the cameras. Recordings showed two men greeted by Wilson on the porch of his home. A few moments later, they forced their way inside at gunpoint, followed by a third man, who ran from the car into the house. Cameras also captured the three men exiting the home quickly several minutes later and driving away. All three suspects appeared to possess handguns. The video did not show the shooting.
Four juveniles were present when Wilson was shot. Two hid in a closet, and the other two were ordered to the ground by the assailants. Each reported hearing about four gunshots, then seeing the victim lying on the floor.
Wilson suffered six gunshot wounds – one each on his head and hand, and four in his torso.
A third defendant — Casey Jones’ father, Casey Kason Jones Sr. – was tried on the same three charges but found not guilty of each.
Circuit Court Judge Carmen T. Mullen handed down the sentences.
