DID SMALL TOWN CORRUPTION KEEP A BRUTAL KILLER FROM LETHAL INJECTION?
|| By FITSNEWS || Two years after vowing to seek the death penalty in a brutal 2011 murder case, South Carolina prosecutors have reportedly settled on a plea deal with the alleged killer. But the story of 26-year-old Nickolas Jermaine Miller’s case isn’t over … in fact it’s just beginning.
First, the crime: On December 26, 2011, 29-year-old Beverly Hope Melton of Kershaw, S.C. was traveling to see her grandmother when she stopped at a convenience store in Jefferson, S.C. Miller encountered Melton inside the store and when she left, he followed her. Not long afterward, prosecutors say, he ran her white Chevrolet off of the road and abducted her – with sexual assault as his motive.
Melton’s still-running vehicle was found in a ditch on Angelus Road in Chesterfield County – deep inside the heavily wooded, 45,000-acre Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge.
What happened next is pure horror …
According to police, Miller took Melton to another part of Chesterfield County and repeatedly raped her. Then he took her into neighboring Kershaw County – specifically the Mount Pisgah, S.C. area. There, beside an old abandoned chicken barn, he proceeded to beat her to death with a baseball bat – even as Melton pleaded with him to spare her life.
Miller – who was arrested the following day – has confessed to the killing. Not only that, he led police to the Kershaw County field where they discovered Melton’s battered, lifeless body.
“If there ever was a death penalty case, this is one,” Kershaw County (S.C.) sheriff Jim Matthews said at the time, calling the crime scene the worst he had encountered in his years of law enforcement.
Miller also confirmed to authorities that Melton begged him not to kill her.
Obviously he refused to spare her life … but now his life is about to be spared.
How come? According to our sources, prosecutors have been forced to abandon their pursuit of the death penalty in Miller’s case due to the possibility of “contaminated” evidence involving former Chesterfield County, S.C. sheriff Sam Parker.
Parker, FITS readers will recall, was indicted in March of 2013 after this website exclusively reported on his involvement in an inmate labor scandal. Parker’s indictment and subsequent conviction is part of a recent rash of bad behavior by local Palmetto State lawmen.
How did Parker’s scandal seep into the Miller prosecution? We’re not sure, exactly, although a source close to the investigation tells FITS Melton’s family was informed that there was “a very real possibility that (Miller) could get very little time if any at all since there is no evidence.”
Wow …
Hence the plea offer … details of which have yet to be made public.
Family members would not speak to FITS on the record about the case – citing a January 2014 gag order that also sealed records related to the prosecution.
(So much for transparency, right?)
But we’re told they are “living a nightmare.” And their anger – brimming just below the surface – is about to explode.
“Do they not have evidence? How can a taped confession be contaminated?” one of Melton’s relatives told us. “Due to the gag order that was handed down, our family has kept everything we know silent. We thought if we followed these orders, justice would be served.”
Guess not …
For those of you keeping score at home, South Carolina has not executed an inmate since May of 2011. Forty-four inmates are currently classified by the S.C. Department of Corrections (SCDC) as being on “Death Row,” although the state has no executions scheduled for 2015 or 2016.
Calls to the S.C. fifth circuit solicitor’s office – which is handling the Miller prosecution – were not immediately returned. Meanwhile, Miller remains incarcerated at the Kershaw County, S.C. detention center.
South Carolina politicians have made a big deal over the last few months about their state being ranked No. 2 in the nation in terms of women killed by men. In fact a major legislative push is underway aimed at strengthening the state’s criminal domestic violence laws – including new restrictions on gun ownership.
Our humble recommendation? If elected officials are serious about discouraging male-on-female homicides, they would put Nickolas Jermaine Miller down like the animal he is. And yes, “animal” refers to anyone – black or white, male or female – who would commit a savage act like this.
66 comments
Someone needs to break Miller out of jail.
Then take him to the same chicken barn and do to him exactly what he did to Ms. Melton.
Use a nail bat instead of a ding-a-ling.
I was thinking more along the lines of a broom stick wrapped in razor wire.
just cut his fingertips off and let him bleed to death SLOWLY
Whatever the method, it needs to be sloooow and very painful. Also, videotaped and published as a deterrent. Show it in all the hoods.
Same goes for any white trash that does this to anyone else… I’m not racist.
Trouble is, that’s probably what the fuckers want.
Democrat Black Clergy high-fived and celebrated when O.J. was set free because he is black and killed 2 whites..
Thank the Democrat Party and leftist Trial Lawyers for the increase in murder, rape and lenient punishment for it. Liberals F×#k up and pervert all they touch….justice too…
Nikki Haley is a Republican Governor who doesn’t want to order executions. She’s a wimp. If it was Hillary this convict would be on his way to becoming Crispy. Obviously it’s Haley and her unwillingness to get tough on crime that’s at play here.
He’s really off his meds this week…
Governors order executions…????…LMAO…
Not only are you misguided…you’re a Dumb@$$ about the legal system….
I love how he tried to replace her with Hillaryous….He really could have chosen a much better replacement….besides…Hillaryous wouldn’t order executions, she’d order voting ballots for them all…..”vote democrat, I commute your sentence”
Hillary would say what does it matter now. and no he does not deserve the injection he deserves to be beat to death.
People protest and burn others property when it’s believed thru no facts that a police officer, while in performance of his duty has taken a life unjustly. Yet a 29 year old THUG can confess to beating a innocent girl to death with a baseball bat behind a chicken house and we are scared we can’t convict him and send him to death row.
We as a country have lost our moral bearing. The pendulum has swung so far to the left we will never get it back to center.
Have we lost our moral bearings though?
America is still one of the highest, if not the highest, church going nations among western democracies.
Americans donate more aid (both public and private money) than any other nation on earth.
Americans on average are one of the highest contributors of personal time per week towards volunteer causes.
The crime rate in America is much lower than the “good ole days” of the 1940s and 1950s.
The death penalty is one place the US still struggles. It has been proven that it’s not a deterrent to murder and the US is technically on the same footing as ISIL, Indonesia, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other backward countries who still utilize the death penalty.
Don’t get me wrong, I am for robust punishment when a conviction is secured for a violent crime but not the death penalty. It really is more trouble than it’s worth.
The death penalty is not a deterrent???…I’ve heard that for years…I think that’s liberal Bull-S#!t….
Just like no gays are pedophiles…and not adult victims of them…
You put the use of the death penalty by stringently constitutionally protected procedural and substantive due process rights and the right to appeal and able counsel paid for by the gonverment to the arbitrary indiscriminate slayings of ISIS. I get that your goal is to try and be a rabble rousing iconoclast mid-level medilcore know it all. But that you could even feign to write that with an attempted straight face shows me you have gone off the crazy rails at light speed and aren’t coming back. What’s next, his only real crime was BWCM (black while committing murder) and only backwards states in the south like SC would prosecute such a minor crime?
Facts bro…not emotion.
Can you name me any other modern, western democracy that still has the death penalty?
Technically I am correct. Due process aside, the US carries out the death penalty just like so many Middle Eastern countries and causes.
Hmmm…facts not emotion, you specifically said the US was on the same footing as ISIS when it came to the death penalty. Seems lime an emotional cry out against the death penalty – and I can appreciate your passion – but I really don’t think there is any comparison. You have now changed it to a question of “modern democracy” and the death penalty. And again, I can applaude your aftmpted misdirection. Your statement was the US by merely having the death penalty is on the same footing with ISIS. That makes me think either some one stole your avatar or you are waaaay stupider than many of the commenters on here that I would never have imagined.
I heard this impressively moronic right wing but job call in to a radio show the other day and rant about how essentially we were living u dear slavery or defacto slavery by virtue of his paying taxes, obamacare, and I think maybe because Obama was president. I think you may be his left wing sole mate because you are living in a country like the US/ISIS where your rights are essentially on the same footing as those under ISIS control due to the whole both have the death penalty thing. Brawahahaha, don’t ever let the right take a monopoly on sheer idiocy and keep fighting the good fight. Thx for keep the balance in the universe.
I wish someone would order yours!!1
Japan has the death penalty, they may not technically be western but they are first world and their country has been greatly influenced by western society.
If you were saying it should be reserved for the worst of the worst then I could respect that but honestly the world is just better off with some people removed from it. I would say this murderer is one of those people.
Due process aside…nice! Haebeus Corpus aside. Lawful reprsentation aside, the 10 amendment s aside. An actual adversarial court system aside. The most defendant orient protection on the accused rights IN THE WORLD aside…proof of guilt of the commission of a crime, a deadly one, with intent to kill – beyond a reasonable doubt…aside, at least three appeals aside…and post conviction relief aside..et cetera ad nauseum we’re “just like” ISIS…that’s some funny stuff bro. Do u do stand up.
They execute people….we execute people.
Its truly as simple. They have the same stance we do on abortion even more liberal, you don’t even have to ask or want an abortion, they’ll give a lady one, and a twofer by killing the mom. They permit killing of fetus we permit killing of fetuses…so same thing
Its not the fact for me that he was black, I don’t really care his race. This was an innocent young lady who was stalked and murdered. I wish things would have been different that day, like her having something to defend herself with. Sadly that’s not the case. If he gets out or off lightly I hate it for him. Honestly I think he’s better off where he’s at. Hell hath no fury
AMEN
But he’s just a victim! There but for the grace of God go I! It’s State-sanctioned murder!
It’s a pity that she had to experience this level of diversity.
I’m curios, if the family members are not a party to the case how can they be required to follow the judge’s “gag order”?
Are they witnesses of some kind, why/how does his order affect them?
Legal beagles?
That made me curious too, unless the proceedings weren’t public???? Which they would have been. Some judges have tried and failed to gag families and friends from speaking out publicly in order not to sour the public against an accused. But once the trial is over what possible reason or ability would the judge have to do that?
This crime is disgusting. I cannot begin to imagine what this woman’s family is enduring. I am angry that the prosecution is in this position because of the actions of a corrupt county sheriff.
Y’all realize this whole death penalty thing is done and over with, right? There will be no more executions in SC or many other states before SCOTUS strikes it down.
If the state doesn’t have the balls to kill him…I say let the public take care of him. I wouldn’t lose any sleep if he died.
Instead of the calls for vengeance appearing below, this case screams for the need for ethics and integrity from our law enforcement officials. Here is another example (beyond Metts) of someone sworn to uphold and enforce the law both violating the law and the public trust. They should be dealt with more harshly than the burglar, drug dealer, or armed robber who likely didn’t have success before committing crimes. The stain they leave on the law enforcement community hurts society as a whole.
When those sworn to uphold the law break it how can you believe anything they say? Did they beat a confession out of this suspect? Whatever they did it must have been pretty bad for them to abandon the death penalty. How hard can it be to get a death penalty qualified (meaning if you don’t believe in the DP and aren’t willing to sentence someone to it you can’t serve) jury to convict a black man of rape and murder of a white woman in rural SC? No, this must have been so bad the judge wouldn’t let it get that far.
Thanks for the only rational comment I’ve read in this thread.
Sam Parker the gift that keeps on giving…
I think that he should be released from jail….just let everyone in the county know the time and place so he can be given the welcome home that he deserves.
You’re talking about the 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Office here. Not surprised. They could fuck up a wet dream!
It is a shame to live in SC and to have this happen. They should just take him out there were he kill Ms.Melton and beat him to death. If he goes on death row he will never die. Also the state will have to keep him up ex(food, clothes,) and that is just to expensive.
The police should have killed him as soon as they found him with the murder weapon and the confession. It would not bring her back but it sure would have made a lot of people feel better especially since he had already tried to kill another white girl before he came upon Hope. I am sorry but this man does not need to live. Sam Parker had nothing to do with this. They just don’t want to make the blacks mad.
Make the blacks mad…really dude? How many whites killed black ppl in SC? Smh ignorance is bliss but stupid is forever…. He’s still going to jail or hell, just not the way you want to see it carried out.
Such a shame the morality of our system, wonder if Sam Parker still feels he did nothing wrong?? Never liked Parker when he was in office, now I have even more reasons not to Like him,R.I.P Hope…
As a friend of Hope’s family… Thank you, Fitsnews, for the coverage of this atrocity on our community and the continued crime against our state by those elected and chosen to preserve justice, honor, and integrity for all. I weep for Hope’s family and the perversion of justice against us all.
Execute that fucking nigger.
The prosecutors are “anti-death” penalty. They should be immediately FIRED and stripped of their law licenses. Prison does not deter people from killing. Executing murderers, does!!!
Things like this make me ashamed to live in this country. This animal should NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The death penalty is not a punishment; it’s a reward. Death is the freeing of the soul from this cumbersome body.
If the shoe was on the other foot, how would you feel…. How many black ppl died at the hands of white ppl and got away? Both sides lost period… Hope parents and friends lost her and so did the attacker…. His day is coming!!! It’s to much racism in here period!! Y’all wouldn’t be saying this is she was black and killed by a white man….. Grow up!!! Justice will prevail and Good will hold him accountable for his actions….
Yeah, amen, this guy is captain America and he gave this white girl what she deserved. All the racist people only want him jailed, or worse because he’s black. Right? This is totally a racial issue, rape and murder got nothing to do with it….
You might think different no matter what color, if it was YOUR daughter!!!
OMG! This is beyond disturbing!! So really there will be more than one going to hell over this! And by the way treading the comments piss me off!! I don’t give a damn what color he was or she was I don’t understand why in the hell anyone would make an issue over that aspect of the vicious crime but if we want to talk colors…. What color what the damn baseball bat he beat her to death with for crying out loud people just close your eyes and imagine your friend the same color as any one reading this being brutally raped and literally beaten to death with a baseball bat and honestly who gives a shit what color who was the only color I see is blood red!! Hope has been lost now in many ways… What shame
Is there anything we can do? Fitz News – thank you for sharing this story. I know this family and they are heart broken. Anyway to get it to the main media?
Fitz News – Thank you for sharing this story. I am familiar with the family and they are heartbroken. Is there anyway to get media attention to this? Thank you.
White lives (apparently) don’t matter.
I guess if a white dude did that to a black girl they would burn SC down. I am sick of these people always making things racial. It’s not racial it was a life no matter what the color. If it was a black guy killing a black girl it would be just as bad. or a white guy killing a white girl. A life is a life. They have people out there that love them no matter what. Maybe someone in jail will take care of him.
Fascinating that Fits is disappointed that we are not executing more people and “keeping score” on this point.
So FITS believes that the government should stay out of healthcare, education, the economy, hell just about anything…but that same government has the power to kill one of its own citizens? If you assert that the State can kill, you allow it every derivative right as well. Thus, if the State can kill, it can do anything else.
There’s a case of law enforcement/prosecutorial misconduct/corruption/ineptitude going on in the Low Country regarding the killing of an 8 yr old child that has been covered by the Island Packet for years. Latest story in the past week.
FITS may not be interested since the child and killers are black.
Unrelated to the specifics of this case… but, just like Justice Beatty alluded to a few years ago, we have a national epidemic of prosecutorial misconduct across this nation.
When the cops and prosecutors cut corners and try to stack the deck, it can backfire in a way that lets the perpetrator off the hook or it can put innocent people behind bars and leave the real perpetrator on the streets.
If you are interested in the subject of prosecutorial misconduct and the militarization of the police, check out Cato Libertarian Radley Balko’s blog The Watch in the opinion section of the Washington Post.
And, the NYT had an editorial a couple of weeks ago about how our US supreme court condones this prosecutorial misconduct by upholding immunity laws.
The second rational comment I’ve read on this thread. Thanks.
Just one more question… Hope was murdered and found in Kershaw county why did Parker (Chesterfield County) ave evidence?
The abduction and rape happened in Chesterfield County. Miller was arrested in Chesterfield County, actually in Jefferson. Hollywood Jim’s boys got in on the action when Miller agreed to take Chesterfield County deputies to the body. Obviously, since it was in Kershaw County, Hollywood Jim got all the press from his own personal TV station in Columbia.
More Black on White Crime cover up! It is open season on Jews,Christians and Whites!
The ignorance and stupidity spewing from some of you has got to be exhausting! Please slow yourselves down! Your small and narrow minds are sure to overheat. When crime happens and you immediately come to the conclusion that justice has been served because of the color of ones skin or you feel your “entitled” speaks volumes of why our nation is so divided! Why does it always have to come down to black or white instead of right or wrong? The horror and mutilation alone of what he put her through should be enough to infuriate each and every one of us. Let alone the betrayal this family feels by our law enforcement and judicial system because they did not do their job.
Nothing surprises me in Chesterfield co. and surely if Sam Parker took prisoners in to his own home, feed them, let them drive around , then what makes this creep any different, i’ll asure you i’ll keep a loaded gun with me if he walks, what makes you think he wouldn’t do it again. I wouldn’t even want to run into him in the daylight he is so scary looking. But we do serve an almighty God and i have faith in knowing that if justice is not served here, it will come Judgement day as we all will stand before the Lord and pay for our sins.
Wow… it’d sure be a shame if one of her family were to find this character.
He was given life without parole today in Columbia. I was in the courtroom. It was very hard to sit there and look at him. He showed no remorse nor did he even say he was sorry. He just looked like he did not care one way or the other.
typical negro behavior. negros need to be steralized and sent back to Da Muddaland. fning groids never evolved in 14 million years