Retrial in Myrtle Beach police officer shooting death set for March

The retrial of a man convicted in 2005 of killing a Myrtle Beach police officer has been moved from next week to the last week in March, according to court officials.

Luzenski Allen Cottrell, 33, was set to be retried in the Dec. 29, 2002, shooting death of Myrtle Beach Officer Joe McGarry, but 15th Circuit Solicitor Greg Hembree said the court administrator confirmed Friday the case was rescheduled to begin March 26.

“We feel very confident that will be our date,” Hembree said Wednesday. “The judge worked very hard to move it along. Based on where things were at that was the appropriate thing to do.”

Hembree said he could not go into specifics regarding the change in the date.

Cottrell remains jailed at Lieber Correctional Institution and is not eligible for release, according to the S.C. Department of Corrections website.

McGarry, then 28, was shot once in the face while he stood outside a Dunkin Donuts shop. He had been with the Myrtle Beach Police Department just over four years when he was killed.

Cottrell was charged and in April 2005 he was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Cottrell appealed the decision and in January 2008 the S.C. Supreme Court justices wrote that a Circuit Court Judge erred in not giving jurors the option to convict Cottrell of voluntary manslaughter, a lesser charge.

Cottrells conviction was overturned and a new trial was ordered.

Five months after his conviction in McGarry’s death, Cottrell and co-defendant, Frederick Halcomb Jr., were each sentenced to life in prison for the November 2002 shooting death of Michael Jonathan Love.