Todd Kohlhepp (pictured) pleaded guilty to seven South Carolina murders on May 26, 2017 and was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences, plus 60 additional years for the kidnapping and sexual assault of surviving victim Kala Brown. Kohlhepp made a deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty, providing information that solved four murders at a motorcycle store in 2003 and sparing Brown and the families of the murder victims from enduring a lengthy trial and appeals process. Seventh Judicial Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette said “This was a death penalty case. No doubt about it. But it is not fair for families to wait years and years for justice.” South Carolina has not had an execution since 2011 and has imposed only one new death sentence in that period. Brown, who Kohlhepp kept chained in a storage container and raped daily for more than two months, told prosecutors she supported the deal, reportedly saying, “he’s the killer, not me.” Joanne Shiflet, the mother of murder victim Charles David Carver, said she appreciated the certainty of Kohlhepp’s sentence: “I am a lot calmer now. There is no apprehension. There is no what if. We know he is going away and going to stay gone.” Other multiple killers have also received plea deals to avoid death sentences: In 2003, “Green River” serial killer Gary Ridgway avoided the death penalty in Washington State by pleading guilty to 48 counts of aggravated murder and providing information that solved 48 killings and helped authorities recover the remains of numerous victims who had been missing for nearly two decades. Roland Dominique, who pleaded guilty to eight murders in Louisiana and was a suspect in 15 more, received a life sentence at the request of victims’ families in 2008.

(N. Mayo, “Prosecutor: Todd Kohlhepp plea hearing was not about giving him punishment he deserved,” Citizen-Times, May 26, 2017; “Todd Kohlhepp pleads guilty in seven South Carolina slayings,” CBS News, May 26, 2017; G. Tuchman “Green River Killer Avoids Death in Plea Deal,” CNN, November 6, 2003.) See Arbitrariness and Victims. Note: DPIC will not ordinarily publish the identity of sexual assault victims; however, Ms. Brown has voluntarily come forward to discuss the case with the media.

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