On a September day in 1985, the life of a dedicated state trooper was tragically cut short on the side of a highway in Jasper County, South Carolina. Bruce Kenneth Smalls, a 30-year-old male Trooper First Class with the South Carolina Highway Patrol, was shot and killed during a traffic stop on Interstate 95. Unbeknownst to Trooper Smalls, the vehicle he pulled over was occupied by individuals who had just committed a murder.
The man who pulled the trigger was 22-year-old Richard Charles Johnson.
The events leading to Trooper Smalls' death began when Johnson and two companions, Connie Sue Hess and Curtis Harbert, were hitchhiking and were picked up by 52-year-old Daniel Swanson. At some point during their travels, Johnson shot and killed Swanson. It was after this initial crime that Trooper Smalls initiated the fateful traffic stop of the vehicle, now being driven by the trio. It was during this stop that Johnson fatally shot Trooper Smalls.
Following an investigation, Johnson, Hess, and Harbert were initially charged with the murder of Trooper Smalls. However, the charges against Hess and Harbert were eventually dropped, and they became state witnesses, testifying that they saw Johnson commit the murder. In February 1986, a jury in Jasper County found Richard Charles Johnson guilty of the murder of Trooper Smalls and subsequently sentenced him to death. The following month, Johnson pleaded guilty to the murder of Daniel Swanson and received a life sentence.
Johnson's legal journey was not over. In 1987, the South Carolina Supreme Court ordered a new trial, but in March 1988, a different jury once again convicted him and sentenced him to death for the murder of Trooper Smalls. After years of appeals, Richard Charles Johnson was executed by lethal injection on May 3, 2002. Trooper Smalls, a U.S. Army veteran who had served with the highway patrol for nine years, was survived by his wife and two sons.
