By TEDDY KULMALA
An Irmo man’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea in the 2008 torture and murder of an Aiken man was recently rejected by a judge, according to Assistant Solicitor Beth Ann Young.
Ronald Grooms, 26, is one of four men charged in the September 2008 murder of Frederick Tucker in Aiken.
Grooms was allowed to plead guilty on May 14 to the lesser included charge of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 22 years in prison. He was also sentenced to 22 years for kidnapping, and 15 years for burglary second-degree violent, with the sentences all running concurrently.
Grooms and his attorney, Margaret Tribert, asked Judge Doyet “Jack” Early in June to consider a motion to reconsider his sentence and/or a motion to withdraw his guilty plea.
Early denied both earlier this month.
“I was there, but I had nothing to do with what happened inside that house,” Grooms said to Early during the June motion to withdraw his guilty plea.
The four men were accused of shooting through the back door of Tucker’s Old Barnwell Road home on Sept. 15, 2008, tying him up with duct tape, burning various parts of his body with a heated screwdriver and ransacking every room of his home before fatally shooting him in the chest, Young said during the plea hearing on May 14.
During the plea hearing, Grooms hesitated before accepting the plea, saying that while he did participate in the crime, he did not believe he was responsible for Tucker’s murder.
He also said during the May 14 hearing that he understood that, in South Carolina, “the hand of one is the hand of all,” meaning that even if he did not fire the shot, he still shared responsibility for the crime.
Young said a motion to withdraw a plea is “much more unusual” than a motion to reconsider a sentence.
“It’s not unheard of but it’s incredibly rare,” she said on Tuesday, adding that a defendant must go through an “extensive” question and answer process when entering a plea.
“It’s a very extensive colloquy that the defendants have with the judge,” she said.
If Grooms’ motion had been granted, he would have faced trial on all the original charges. Charges against the other men involved in the murder have been resolved.
Antonio Miller, 33, of Columbia, was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of murder in February; Marquise Redfield, 37, of Columbia, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder in March 2011; and Melvin Cummings, 30, of Aiken, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter after pleading guilty in September 2010.![]()
An Irmo man’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea in the 2008 torture and murder of an Aiken man was recently rejected by a judge, according to Assistant Solicitor Beth Ann Young.
Ronald Grooms, 26, is one of four men charged in the September 2008 murder of Frederick Tucker in Aiken.
Grooms was allowed to plead guilty on May 14 to the lesser included charge of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 22 years in prison. He was also sentenced to 22 years for kidnapping, and 15 years for burglary second-degree violent, with the sentences all running concurrently.
Grooms and his attorney, Margaret Tribert, asked Judge Doyet “Jack” Early in June to consider a motion to reconsider his sentence and/or a motion to withdraw his guilty plea.
Early denied both earlier this month.
“I was there, but I had nothing to do with what happened inside that house,” Grooms said to Early during the June motion to withdraw his guilty plea.
The four men were accused of shooting through the back door of Tucker’s Old Barnwell Road home on Sept. 15, 2008, tying him up with duct tape, burning various parts of his body with a heated screwdriver and ransacking every room of his home before fatally shooting him in the chest, Young said during the plea hearing on May 14.
During the plea hearing, Grooms hesitated before accepting the plea, saying that while he did participate in the crime, he did not believe he was responsible for Tucker’s murder.
He also said during the May 14 hearing that he understood that, in South Carolina, “the hand of one is the hand of all,” meaning that even if he did not fire the shot, he still shared responsibility for the crime.
Young said a motion to withdraw a plea is “much more unusual” than a motion to reconsider a sentence.
“It’s not unheard of but it’s incredibly rare,” she said on Tuesday, adding that a defendant must go through an “extensive” question and answer process when entering a plea.
“It’s a very extensive colloquy that the defendants have with the judge,” she said.
If Grooms’ motion had been granted, he would have faced trial on all the original charges. Charges against the other men involved in the murder have been resolved.
Antonio Miller, 33, of Columbia, was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of murder in February; Marquise Redfield, 37, of Columbia, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder in March 2011; and Melvin Cummings, 30, of Aiken, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter after pleading guilty in September 2010.