Judge to decide Horry County Stand Your Ground case in 2013 fatal domestic shooting

A circuit court judge said it will likely be at least two weeks before he issues a ruling in the Stand Your Ground case brought by an Horry County woman charged with murder in her husband’s 2013 shooting death.

Circuit Court Judge Cordell Maddox said Thursday at the end of the four-day hearing that he expects to issue his ruling in two weeks in the case of 33-year-old Heather Sims.

“It’s a sad thing that these two adults didn’t say ‘hold on a second we’ve got a 4-month-old in the house,’ that stops a lot of craziness,” Maddox said at the end of the hearing, which began Monday.

Sims sought the Stand Your Ground hearing in an effort to gain immunity in the Aug. 11, 2013, shooting death of her 35-year-old husband, David Sims Jr., who died from a single gunshot wound to the chest.

Maddox must now decide if Sims’ use of deadly force was justified under the state’s Stand Your Ground law, which allows for the use of deadly force against an intruder or attacker in a person’s home, business or vehicle, or if she should face prosecution on the murder charge.

The law states such force is allowed if the person is not doing something illegal or to prevent death, great bodily injury or if a violent crime is occurring. According to the law, a person, other than a law enforcement officer, who uses deadly force is immune to criminal prosecution and civil action.

However, prosecutors argued the law should not apply in domestic violence situations like the Sims case and that she planned the shooting.

“We have an issue with two people in the home and only one lives to tell her story,” said Nancy Livesay, who is prosecuting the case for the 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office. “We are no where near a preponderance of evidence. We are no where near saying this is a self-defense case. ... The state asks this case not be dismissed and be bound over to trial.”

Heather Sims’ attorney, Morgan Martin, told Maddox that no matter the opinion of the law their evidence showed she was protecting herself during the shooting.

“We are really serious that we have carried the preponderance of the evidence in the burden in this case whether one like the law or doesn’t like the law. It is the law and that’s where we are today,” Martin said. “In my opinion, they [prosecutors] don’t have answers, they have questions and we have factual evidence.”

During the hearing, experts, crime scene officers, police and Heather Sims testified about the shooting, how it occurred and evidence such as the knife found in David Sims’ hand, DNA, blood and injuries.

On Thursday, a recording of an interview Heather Sims gave to Horry County police detectives at the hospital a couple hours after the shooting was played for Maddox. It was the second time this week Maddox heard the recording, which was played on Monday when he decided she spoke to authorities freely and without coercion.

During closing statements by the lawyers, Maddox asked several questions in attempt to clear up his confusion about the evidence and testimony.

One included while Martin was speaking about Heather Sims’ DNA not being found on the knife that Sims said David Sims used to attack her before she shot him.

“It takes generally more than a touch to inflict DNA,” Martin said. “If she wiped it clean, well his blood is on it and his DNA is on it [the knife]. She said consistently that he never dropped the knife.”

Later, during her statement, Livesay said that the knife was moved and wiped because Heather Sims’ blood was deeper on the knife than the wound on her stomach was deep.

“There’s no explanation other than it was manipulated,” Livesay said.

She also said in the 911 call, Heather Sims’ father can be heard telling her to stop wiping something, but that police never found the rag she said she used to wipe blood from her hands and peanut butter from David Sims’ mouth and nose that came up during CPR.

“This is a crime scene, stop wiping things down, this is the father and that was one of the things bothering me,” Maddox said.

“That is not evidence of self-defense, that is evidence of murder,” Livesay said of the wiping and lack of rag being found in the house. She also added that the officer never found David Sims’ cellphone in the house and it was erased by Heather Sims on Aug. 13, 2013, and later given to police with nothing on it.

Livesay said that he could have been trying to call 911 because Heather Sims was holding him at gunpoint or he could have recorded her threatening him.

“What was on that phone? We don’t know. Her husband is laying down with a bullet through his chest and her priority is to take the phone and hide it,” Livesay said. “She obviously felt like there was something on the phone.”

Heather Sims testified Tuesday and Wednesday that she needed a phone and David Sims’ phone was found by her father in a drawer after his shooting. She testified she got it from his pocket while doing CPR and tried to use it but it was locked.

After finding the phone in a kitchen drawer, Heather Sims said she had it erased so she could use it because police had her cellphone.

Maddox commended Livesay and Martin in the case.

“Every single fact has a double inference,” Maddox said. “You have both been able to give two plausible reasons for every single fact. [Pointing toward Livesay] She was wiping the phone clean to clear out some horrible fact or recording, [pointing toward Martin and Sims] or she was wiping the phone clean to use it to clear out some idiot on Facebook.”

“It is a difficult case because literally there are two inferences to every single fact,” Maddox said.

“Whether I dismiss it or whether it goes to trial ... you’ve got a child at best that has no father and you’ve got a child that potentially could have a mother in prison,” Maddox said. “I take this very seriously. People’s lives have a great value in my opinion, people’s freedom has a great value and a child’s life has supreme value in my opinion.”

This story was originally published July 9, 2015 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Judge to decide Horry County Stand Your Ground case in 2013 fatal domestic shooting."