Heather Sims asks judge to reconsider charge, sentence in ‘stand your ground’ case

An attorney for a woman charged with voluntary manslaughter in the death of her husband has filed a motion asking for a judge to reconsider the charge and her jail sentence.

Heather Sims, who last month was found guilty in the 2013 shooting death of her husband, will have a hearing Wednesday to reconsider her charge. Morgan L. Martin, Sims’ attorney, filed the motion on Nov. 24, according to court records.

The hearing will be before Judge J. Cordell Maddox, Jr. in Anderson at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Morgan’s motion claims charging Sims with voluntary manslaughter was an error and there was a lack of “middle ground” between prosecutors who sought a first-degree murder conviction and the defense’s position of self-defense. The motion also states Sims clean criminal record as reason for the state to reconsider her sentence.

Sims was sentenced to 25 years, which was suspended to 10 years with five years probation, last month.

The motion asks for a shorter sentence to reflect “several reasons including, but not limited to, the Defendant’s lack of any criminal history, the non-existent likelihood of recidivism, and the extenuating circumstances of this tragedy which involved an assault on her by the deceased.”

Sims, 33, of Conway was charged with murder after Horry County authorities found her husband, 35-year-old David Sims, dead from a single gunshot wound to the chest at their home on Old Reaves Ferry Road on Aug. 11, 2013 after the couple fought, and she claimed self defense.

Over the summer, Sims tried to challenge her murder charge and sought immunity under the state’s Stand Your Ground law, which allows deadly force against an intruder or attacker in a person’s home, business or vehicle. The state said the law excludes people living in the same residence and doesn’t apply when there is a domestic situation in the home, and Sims lost the motion in August.

This story was originally published December 15, 2015 at 12:49 PM with the headline "Heather Sims asks judge to reconsider charge, sentence in ‘stand your ground’ case."