In October of 2016, in Greenwood, South Carolina, a 57-year-old man named Barry Warren was tragically killed in his own home. The male victim was shot twice during what was determined to be a robbery for drugs and money. The man who committed this act was someone Warren considered a friend, Demorris Ocswavia Andrews.
Multiple witnesses were able to place Andrews at the scene of the crime.
Furthermore, a former cellmate of Andrews testified that he had confessed to the murder while they were incarcerated together at the Greenwood County Detention Center. In a particularly disturbing detail that emerged during the investigation, a police investigator testified that about a week after the shooting, Andrews, while denying his involvement, requested a copy of the autopsy photograph of Warren's body to hang on his wall.
A Greenwood County jury deliberated for nearly seven hours over two days before finding Demorris Andrews guilty of murder, armed robbery, and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. He was subsequently sentenced to a total of 40 years in prison. The judge sentenced him to 35 years for the murder charge, 30 years for the armed robbery to be served concurrently, and a consecutive five years for the weapon possession charge.
