A man was convicted with the fatal shooting of a former House of Raeford Farms poultry plant worker that occurred a little more than two years ago.
According to a press release from the South Carolina 11th Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office, Trevor Anthony Irvin, 30, was convicted of a murder charge and sentenced to 45 years in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Daniel Demetrius Jones. The conviction took place on June 23, following a week-long trial.
The fatal incident occurred on June 24, 2021, in a parking lot near the House of Raeford plant in West Columbia, South Carolina.
Testimony at the trial revealed that Irvin and Jones, once worked in the same section of the plant and during the same shift, but because of prior disagreements Jones, as well as his girlfriend, were assigned to different lines than the one Irvin worked on.
Following a lunch break, Irvin confronted Jones and a verbal altercation took place along the line where Jones worked, and a co-worker who was a witness at the trial said he had to move Irvin away from Jones. While this was happening, the witness said Irvin threatened to kill Jones in the parking lot.
At the end of the shift, the suspect and the victim were in the parking lot and the two moved over to a nearby gas station, before ending up back in the parking lot.
Witnesses testified that Irvin was standing on cars and taunting Jones, and that testimony was backed up by video surveillance provided to police by the gas station. The press release stated that Irvin tried multiple times to provoke Jones into hitting him. Jones eventually did, and when that happened, Irvin shot Jones 15 times. The autopsy revealed Jones had in fact received 15 gunshot wounds.
Jones was 33 years old at the time of his death.
Senior Assistant Solicitor Sutania A. Fuller and Deputy Solicitor Rhonda Patterson handled the trial of this case, and Circuit Court Judge Debra R. McCaslin presided over the trial.
