Hastings Arthur Wise facts for kids

Hastings Arthur Wise (born February 16, 1954 – died November 4, 2005) was an American man who committed a terrible crime. He was found guilty of killing four people he used to work with. This happened in the state of South Carolina. Sometimes, news reports mistakenly called him "Arthur Hastings Wise," but people who knew him called him Hastings Wise.

On September 15, 1997, Wise shot and killed four people: Charles Griffeth, David Moore, Leonard Filyaw, and Sheryl Wood. This tragic event took place at the R.E. Phelon Company, a factory in Aiken, South Carolina, where they made lawn mower parts. Wise had previously worked there.

The Court Case

Wise was officially charged with the murders in August 1998. His court case, where a jury would decide his guilt, was delayed a few times. First, the judge in charge of the case changed in 2000. Then, one of his lawyers faced personal issues, causing another delay.

Even though the crimes happened in Aiken County, the trial was held in Beaufort County, South Carolina. The judge decided this because there had been a lot of news about the crime in Aiken County. The judge worried that people there might have already made up their minds about Wise's guilt.

Why the Trial Was Delayed

A doctor who studied Wise's mind said that Wise drove over 9,000 miles in the two weeks before the shootings. He wanted to visit places like the San Diego Zoo before carrying out his planned actions. The doctor believed that Wise's only reason for the crimes was being fired from his job. Wise felt he had been treated unfairly his whole life because he was African American.

After a two-week trial, Wise's lawyers did not call any people to speak in his defense. The jury thought for five hours before deciding that Wise was guilty of the four murders.

The Verdict and Sentence

During the part of the trial where the punishment was decided, Wise insisted that his lawyers not call any character witnesses. These are people who would speak about his good qualities. Even though his lawyers had 13 people ready to testify, Wise reportedly said:

I don't have much to say except that I did not wish to take advantage of the court as far as asking [for] mercy. It's a fair trial. I committed the crimes.

He received the death penalty for all four murders. This is the highest punishment, where someone is put to death. Wise was also sentenced to 60 years in prison for shooting Stan Vance, Jerry Corley, and John Mucha, who all survived their injuries. He received shorter sentences for other crimes, like breaking into the factory and having a gun during the crime. These shorter sentences ran at the same time as the longer ones.

After being found guilty, Wise was moved to the South Carolina Department of Corrections on February 2, 2001. He was known there as Inmate #00005074.

Wise's Decision Not to Appeal

Wise's case was automatically reviewed by the South Carolina Supreme Court. His conviction and sentence were confirmed. His court-appointed lawyers then asked the Supreme Court of the United States to review the case, but the highest court decided not to hear the appeal.

At that point, Wise wrote to the state Supreme Court. He said that the second appeal was made against his wishes and that he wanted to die. This meant Wise gave up his right to further appeals of his death sentence. He was the sixth person in South Carolina to do this since the state brought back the death penalty after a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

By refusing to continue his appeals, Wise became known as a "volunteer" for execution. This term is used for people who choose not to fight their death sentence further. It seemed that Hastings Wise did not intend to survive his revenge actions, whether by his own hand or by legal execution.

After meetings to check if he was mentally able to make this decision, the state Supreme Court set his execution date for November 4, 2005.

The Execution

Wise was put to death by lethal injection, the method he had chosen. This happened at the Broad River Correctional Institution on Friday, November 4, 2005. He chose not to make a final statement. For his last meal, he ordered lobster back, french fries, coleslaw, banana pudding, and milk. During the execution, he simply stared at the ceiling. He was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m. EST.

Wise was the second person executed in South Carolina in 2005. He was the thirty-fourth person put to death there since the death penalty was brought back in 1976. Across the United States, he was the 992nd person to be executed since the death penalty was restored in 1976.

After the Event

Ten people, including survivors of the shooting and relatives of those who died, filed a lawsuit against Regent Security Services. This was the security company that employed Stan Vance, one of the injured survivors. A federal judge oversaw the agreement that was reached on Monday, November 5, 2001. This was just one day before the case was supposed to go to trial. The amount of money involved in the agreement was not made public.

Stan Vance himself also sued R.E. Phelon, the factory where the shooting happened. He settled his case with them in March 2001, before the agreement with Regent Security Services. Vance argued that Phelon did not warn him that Hastings Wise had caused problems there before. The amount of money Vance received was also not made public.

Phelon and its insurance company, Liberty Mutual, filed lawsuits against Regent Security Services. They did this on behalf of 32 employees who received workers' compensation payments for their injuries and emotional distress from the event. In July 2001, Phelon and Liberty stopped their state lawsuits. They joined the federal lawsuits filed by the victims, hoping to get back some of the over $380,000 they had spent on workers' compensation claims.

See also

• Capital punishment in South Carolina
• Capital punishment in the United States
• List of people executed in South Carolina
• List of people executed in the United States in 2005