Florence, South Carolina – The murder convictions of two Florence men have been thrown out after South Carolina’s highest court found that a trial court made a legal mistake during one of the most important moments of the case: the return of the jury’s verdict.
Quinterris Carmichael and Tirik Johnson-Epps were convicted by a jury on January 25, 2023, of murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
Both men were later sentenced to life in prison. But those convictions will no longer stand after the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that the trial court was required to individually poll jurors once that request was made.
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The issue did not center on the evidence presented at trial, but on courtroom procedure after the verdict was announced. According to court records, Carmichael and Johnson-Epps asked the judge to conduct individual polling of the jury, a request that was also supported by the State. Individual polling allows each juror to personally confirm that the verdict announced in court is truly their own decision.
The trial court denied the request, apparently because of concerns about juror safety, court documents said. Carmichael and Johnson-Epps appealed, arguing that the refusal amounted to reversible error. The South Carolina Court of Appeals agreed and reversed the convictions.
The question then moved to the state Supreme Court, where justices considered whether individual polling must be done when requested, or whether a trial judge may refuse it under certain circumstances. The court looked to the earlier case of State v. Wright in weighing the issue.
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In its analysis, the court of appeals noted that the “right to poll the jury is not in itself a constitutional right but a procedural protection of the defendant’s constitutional right to a unanimous verdict.” The court also said this “individual inquiry is critical, for it provides a criminal defendant with his most meaningful opportunity to ensure that each juror freely and unequivocally agrees with the verdict rendered.”
Court documents show the State conceded that the trial court erred by refusing to individually poll the jurors. However, the State asked the Supreme Court to revisit the rule and apply harmless error review, stating: “The State requests that we revisit and modify Wright by subjecting the failure to individually poll the jury to harmless error review.”
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The Supreme Court declined to move away from the requirement. It said that while a trial court may decide how jury polling is conducted, including for safety reasons, it must still poll jurors individually when asked.
“We trust our able trial court judges to abide by the law,” the court added.
As a result, the convictions of Carmichael and Johnson-Epps were overturned. Twelfth Circuit Assistant Solicitor Ryan White said prosecutors intend to bring the case back to court.
“The case is as strong now as it was then, and it will be re-tried,” said White to WPDE.
