He killed an Horry cop, but had a death sentence vacated. Here’s the latest on his case.
A federal appeals court is hearing arguments on whether it should support the vacating of a death sentence for a man who killed an Horry County police officer.
James Bryant was convicted after a second trial for murder in the death of Horry County police Cpl. Dennis Lyden. However, last year a federal judge vacated the death sentence imposed by an Horry County jury delivered in the case.
Now, prosecutors and Bryant’s attorneys are arguing in the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on whether Bryant should be executed for killing the officer.
Bryant is currently on death row in a South Carolina prison.
In June 2000, Lyden pulled Bryant over on S.C. 544 during a traffic stop. A fight began and Bryant got Lyden’s gun and shot and killed the officer.
Bryant has said that he felt he was the victim of racial profiling, which led to the traffic stop. Bryant is Black and Lyden was white.
The jury convicted him during the guilt phase and then sentenced him to death in 2001.
On appeal, the state Supreme Court overturned that conviction saying the trial was unfair because county police working for the solicitor’s office worked on investigations of possible jurors.
In 2004, a second jury again found Bryant guilty and sentenced him to death. After several appeals attempts were denied, a federal judge in 2019 vacated the death sentence after concerns that an Horry County juror had a hearing disability and did not understand all the testimony.
The decision to vacate the sentence paved the way for a third trial-though it would only determine his sentence and not guilt. Earlier this year, prosecutors appealed that decision to the court a step below the U.S. Supreme Court.
Over the summer, prosecutors filed court documents that detailed why the death penalty sentence should be reinstated. In the filing, lawyers say that Bryant failed to prove that the juror missed important testimony because of her disability.
That juror testified during later court proceedings and said she heard the testimony, according to court records.
The juror also disclosed her disability during the jury selection process and told prosecutors that she could hear their questions, the filing states.
“At no point during the guilt phase of Bryant’s trial did Juror 342 respond to the court’s repeated examinations that she could not hear, or that she missed testimony,” lawyers contended.
The prosecutors argue that the death sentence was not flawed and that Bryant should again face execution.
Bryant and his attorneys have yet to answer the federal appeals court filing.
