Earl David Goodwater, a 53-year-old Black man from Goose Creek, South Carolina, was killed on the night of May 13, 2023, after stepping into a confrontation involving his daughter and her fiancé, Joshua Scott-Lee Butler. The shooting occurred at the Goodwater family home on Westminster Boulevard in the St. James Estates neighborhood. Deputies were dispatched shortly before 10:30 p.m.
after a woman called 911 to report a family argument, but while officers were still responding they were told that someone had been shot. Goodwater was found suffering from a gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Evidence later presented at Butler's trial provided a fuller account of how the confrontation developed. Butler and his fiancée, Goodwater's daughter, had been arguing earlier that evening at a family gathering before arriving at her parents' home around 10 p.m. According to her testimony, the argument continued in the driveway, where Butler struck her in the face, leaving swelling and a cut inside her mouth. Their young daughter was present. The couple then went inside the home to retrieve their 1-year-old child, and Goodwater's daughter called to her father for help.
Goodwater became involved after his daughter sought his assistance. A physical confrontation developed between Goodwater and Butler and moved from the house into the front yard. Family members managed to separate the two men, creating an opportunity for the confrontation to end. Instead, prosecutors said Butler went to his vehicle and retrieved a 9mm handgun before returning toward the house.
Trial testimony showed that Butler initially pointed the weapon at another person who was outside with the family. That witness testified that he raised his hands and attempted to draw Butler's attention away from Goodwater, the women and the children nearby. Butler then moved past the witness and confronted Goodwater again near the front porch. Prosecutors said Butler placed Goodwater in a headlock while still holding the pistol. During the ensuing struggle, Butler fired a single round that struck Goodwater in the right cheek beneath the cheekbone. Testimony indicated the wound was fatal almost immediately.
Early investigative reports described the shooting as occurring during a struggle over the handgun and reported that Butler was also shot in the arm during the encounter. After Goodwater was shot, Butler left the property but returned a short time later. Berkeley County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested him, and the initial charges included voluntary manslaughter and second-degree domestic violence. Investigators indicated at the time that additional charges could follow as the case developed.
The prosecution eventually became substantially more serious. Authorities said additional evidence led the case to be presented as a murder prosecution rather than the original voluntary manslaughter case. More than three years after Goodwater's death, a Berkeley County jury found Joshua Scott-Lee Butler guilty of murder, possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, and pointing or presenting a firearm at a person. The jury found him not guilty of second-degree domestic violence.
Circuit Court Judge Courtney Clyburn-Pope sentenced Butler to 45 years in prison for Goodwater's murder. He also received five-year sentences for possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime and for pointing or presenting a firearm at another person. Those sentences were ordered to run concurrently with the 45-year murder sentence. Prosecutors emphasized that Butler had already been separated from Goodwater before choosing to retrieve the gun and return to the confrontation, describing Goodwater's intervention as an effort to protect his daughter and grandchildren.
