WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Saluda Co. trial questioned

Saluda Co. trial questioned

SALUDA COUNTY, SC (WIS) - Not guilty, but not so fast as the trial of an accused burglar in Saluda County was called into question because of what one person said to the judge.

Four years ago, someone broke in to Charles Rikard's house and stole $80,000 from a vault, his life's savings.

"It took me probably twenty years to accumulate that, took him less than five minutes to steal it," he recalled.

The man deputies say did it is Alonzo Etheredge. They say they found his fingerprints at the scene. He has a rap sheet dating back to the 1980's including prior convictions of grand larceny and burglary.

So when the case finally went to court this past July, it looked like a slam dunk. But the verdict was not guilty.

When asked about his reaction to the words 'not guilty,' Rikard said he "thought it was an impossible verdict because all the evidence is there, and can't nobody explain why his fingerprints is on my safe."

According to assistant solicitor Ervin Maye in Saluda County, after the verdict was read and the case cleared - a juror approached a bailiff saying that the jury had not been unanimous - the verdict was wrong.

Since then, the prosecutor says three more jurors have come forward, saying the same thing.

Rikard says "I want to retry him with the right jury, 'cause anybody with any common sense can see that the evidence was there."

The solicitor says the last time this happened that he knows of was in the 1920's. The judge recalled the jurors, listened to testimony from each and is now deciding if anything will change.

Maye says he made one mistake he regrets. After the judge read the verdict, the judge asked the solicitor if he'd like a roll call of each jurors' vote. At the time he said no, not knowing he had reason to question the verdict.

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