WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina |Orangeburg judge refused to lessen sentence for killer
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Oscar McDowellORANGEBURG, SC (WIS) — A South Carolina judge has upheld the 40-year prison sentence for a Cordova man who pleaded guilty to killing and mutilating his former girlfriend.
The Times and Democrat of Orangeburg reported that 29-year-old Oscar McDowell thought his sentence should be reduced because his lawyer didn't do his job.
But Circuit Court Judge Diane Goodstein disagreed, citing testimony from defense attorney Michael Culler, who said he repeatedly told McDowell he faced 30 years to life in prison if he pleaded guilty.
Culler says prosecutors wanted a life sentence.
Authorities say McDowell shot 31-year-old Ruby Rawls a dozen times in February 2007, dismembered and mutilated her, then set the body on fire.
"I can't say that I hate him; God's love is not hate," Ruby's father Arthur Rawls said after McDowell was sentenced in 2008. "'Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord.' I believe if he don't get it here, he'll get it one day."
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