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by WILL FOLKS
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No media outlet has been more aggressive than FITSNews in demanding South Carolina judges deny bond to violent criminals – and repeat offenders accused of committing additional violent crimes. Far too often, our “justice” system – which includes investigators and prosecutors as well as judges – elevates the rights of violent criminals over the rights of their victims (and the interests of public safety).
With tragic consequences…
While maintaining pressure on our judicial institutions is critical, we also believe it’s important to consider the facts of each individual case – acknowledging times when hard-and-fast absolutes must yield to circumstantial discernment.
Is the case of 29-year-old Zachary East Elias one such situation?
As our audience may recall, Elias is facing two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of possessing a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in connection with a graphic shooting that took place at Budiman’s Smokeshop & Art Gallery in Rock Hill, S.C. at approximately 9:40 p.m. EST on December 4, 2024.
At that time, Elias entered the store wearing no shirt and shoes, armed with an assault rifle. After inquiring as to the whereabouts of the “mushroom man,” he opened fire…
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The shooting claimed the lives of 27-year-old Celci Johnson, an employee at the smoke shop, and one of its customers – 49-year-old Emad Saadalla. Saadalla’s wife also sustained a gunshot wound – but survived.
Elias fled the scene in a pickup truck – which he subsequently crashed into a bridge traversing the Catawba River. Upon exiting his vehicle, he reportedly charged at Rock Hill police officers – one of whom discharged a service weapon in his direction. Elias was eventually tased and taken into custody.
This week, Elias and his attorney – Alexandra Benevento – appeared in a York County court asking the circuit court judge in his case, William A. McKinnon, to set a bond for him. Elias has spent the last nine-and-a-half months behind bars following his arrest.
According to his motion for bond (.pdf), “the tragic events underlying this case arose not from criminal intent, but from involuntary intoxication induced by mislabeled and deceptively marketed products sold as legal substances” by the smoke shop.
Specifically, Elais purchased two “Silly Farms Wavy Wafer” chocolate bars from the smoke shop. According to his attorney, the bars were “marketed as containing only lawful mushroom derivatives” and were “explicitly promoted as a CBD-style legal alternative.”
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“Zach consumed the products in reliance on these representations,” his bond motion alleged.
Unbeknownst to Elias, subsequent tests on the chocolate bars conducted by the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) revealed they contained Psilocin, “an illegal, dangerous Schedule I controlled substance.” After consuming the bars, Elias allegedly “suffered acute drug-induced psychosis” which led him to return to the smoke shop in what can charitably be described as an altered state.
SLED’s testing of Elias’ blood from the evening of the shooting “confirmed the presence of illegal psilocin.”
“Zach’s alleged actions were not the product of malice, planning or criminal disposition, but rather the direct and involuntary effect of ingesting a mislabeled, illegal product,” his bond motion noted.
In court, Dr. Daniel Buffington – a nationally recognized clinical pharmacologist – testified the “ingestion of the chocolate bars containing psilocybin directly caused Zach’s acute drug-induced psychosis.” According to Buffington, this “involuntary pharmacological reaction to hidden psilocybin” rendered Elias – who had no prior criminal record at the time of the shooting – “incapable of understanding or controlling his actions.”
Such a determination, the motion argued, is “highly relevant to the issue of bond.”
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It could potentially be “highly relevant” to the issue of Elias’ guilt or innocence, too.
“It shows that the charged conduct arose from a unique, isolated and externally triggered episode,” the motion noted.
In court, Benevento argued the sale of these products under false pretenses represented an ongoing “danger to the community” – one far more pernicious than any posed by her client, whom she insisted had a “spotless record.”
“But for the deceptive sale of these illegal products, this tragedy would not have occurred,” she noted.
S.C. sixteenth circuit solicitor Kevin Brackett pushed back on the assertion that Elias’ intoxication prior to the shooting was completely “involuntary.”
“He paid $32 a bar, not so he could have some chocolate, but that so he could alter his outlook on reality,” Brackett told the judge.
Judge McKinnon agreed with Brackett – and denied Elias’ bond.
“You have a client who by your own admission walked into a business and shot three people, and killed two of them,” he told Elias’ attorneys.
Needless to say, FITSNews will be following this case very closely in the weeks and months to come given the significant legal issues it raises.
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THE FILING…
(S.C. Sixteenth Judicial Circuit)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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