Day 4 of suspended Marlboro County sheriff’s federal trial ends early due to Florence water issues

FLORENCE, S.C. (WBTW) — Day 4 of the federal excessive-force trial for suspended Marlboro County Sheriff Charles Lemon ended early because of the ongoing Florence water issue.

The judge told everyone in the courtroom that the trial must end early on Friday because the city of Florence’s sewage systems aren’t working properly. There was no water and the air conditioning in the courthouse would eventually shut off. The trial will resume Monday at 9:30 a.m.

Defense attorneys began calling witnesses Friday morning. Prosecutors rested their case against Lemon Thursday in U.S. District Court in Florence. He is on trial for allegedly instructing his former Deputy David Andrew Cook to use a Taser on prisoner Jarrel Johnson six times at the county’s detention center in May 2020. Authorities said he did so “without legal justification.”

Lemon and Cook were indicted in January were indicted in January. Cook pleaded guilty in late February and agreed to testify in Lemon’s trial, which began on Tuesday and continued Friday morning.

On Thursday, jurors heard testimony from two master Taser instructors . One of them demonstrated how to use the Taser used by Cook. The instructor said Tasers record a daily event log and that Cook’s Taser showed 29 seconds of electricity used in less than four minutes.

The second instructor testified about the sheriff’s department’s use-of-force policy, which says if a subject is verbally noncompliant, the officer should respond with verbal commands. If the subject is passively resistant, whether they sit down or go limp, the officer should use their hands to escort the subject or cause nondeadly pain.

Based on the county’s policy and the body cam footage, the instructor said Cook should have used his Taser on Johnson only the first time because Johnson was not handcuffed and he had lunged at Lemon.

The Taser should not have been used the other five times because Johnson was following the officers’ commands, the instructor said. In addition, at the time, Lemon was not certified to use a Taser, but Cook was.

Earlier in the trial , jurors heard testimony from Cook and the Rev. Ronnie Johnson, Jarrel Johnson’s father.

During Cook’s testimony , the jury learned about his law enforcement training, including how and when to use a Taser. Cook said he felt emotions of fear and adrenaline, saying he wanted to get out of the situation.

Ronnie Johnson testified that when he first heard about the incident, officials said his son was trying to “attack the sheriff.” At first, he didn’t want to watch the body camera footage because he didn’t want to see his son in pain.

Ronnie recalled that Lemon helped him calm down Jarrel in 2017 after he got a call that Jarrel intended to hurt his ex-wife. Ronnie also said that was unusual behavior for Jarrel and said he was grateful to Lemon for helping him that day.

Ronnie also testified that on May 3, 2020, he was getting ready for church when Jarrel put Ronnie’s Bible in his garbage can. When Ronnie followed his son to his home down the street, he heard banging noises from inside, saw his son come outside with a baseball bat and only remembered the first time his son hit Ronnie’s head with the bat before he was unconscious.

Ronnie said days after he left the hospital, officials told him that officers needed to use a Taser on Jarrel at the detention center because he was about to attack Lemon. However, in December 2021, an official told Ronnie and his wife that Jarel had not been physically aggressive toward Lemon and that Jarrel was Tased six times.

Ronnie said he has yet to watch the entire body camera footage of the incident. He said when he heard Lemon tell Cook “Tase him in the head” that he interpreted it as “asking him to kill my son.”

State authorities initially charged both men with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and misconduct in office in December 2021, and Lemon was suspended by Gov. Henry McMaster .

Lemon had been reelected sheriff in November 2020 , beating out his Republican challenger, Henry Love. F ormer Bennettsville Police Department Chief Larry McNeil was appointed as the county’s interim sheriff following Lemon’s suspension.

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Dennis Bright is a Digital Producer at News13 . He joined the team in May 2021. Dennis is a West Virginia native and a graduate of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Follow Dennis on, Facebook , X, formerly Twitter , and read more of his work here .

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