In the quiet town of Liberty, South Carolina, the life of 23-year-old Mitchell Aaron Bradley of Duncan came to a sudden and violent end on the night of Wednesday, July 15, 2015. What began as a dispute among a group of men at a residence on Watts Road spiraled into a physical confrontation that would prove fatal. As tensions mounted and the argument turned to blows, a single gunshot shattered the night, leaving Mitchell Bradley with a mortal wound.
When deputies from the Pickens County Sheriff's Office arrived at the scene around 11:45 p.m., they discovered Bradley's body on the back porch, the life gone from him.
The investigation into the shooting quickly pointed to 46-year-old John William McCarty, a resident of the home where the incident occurred. Evidence suggested that during the heated altercation, McCarty had armed himself with a 9mm handgun and fired at least one shot in Bradley's direction. Another man involved in the fray sustained minor injuries. Two days after the fatal shooting, on July 17, 2015, authorities arrested McCarty and initially charged him with voluntary manslaughter and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. The case was then handed over to the 13th Circuit Solicitor's Office to navigate the path toward justice.
As the legal process unfolded, the charges against John William McCarty were elevated to murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Before his trial, McCarty's defense team sought to have the charges dismissed, claiming he was immune from prosecution under the state's 'Protection of Persons and Property Act.' They argued that his actions were taken in defense of another person. However, a circuit court judge denied this motion for immunity, paving the way for a jury trial. The trial concluded with a guilty verdict, and McCarty was convicted for the killing of Mitchell Bradley.
The legal battle was far from over. McCarty's conviction was appealed, and the case eventually reached the Supreme Court of South Carolina. In a ruling issued on September 21, 2022, the state's highest court found that the circuit court had not properly handled the pretrial immunity hearing. The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeals and sent the case back to the lower court for a new hearing on the immunity claim. The final resolution of the charges against John William McCarty, following this turn of events, has not been publicly documented.
