A Santee man accused of pointing a rifle at his estranged wife and a deputy could face more time in prison after his charges were upgraded on Thursday.
First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe said 50-year-old Robert Shuler’s charge of criminal domestic violence was changed to criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature.
“I looked into it and decided I needed to upgrade the charge to CDVHAN,” Pascoe said. “I’ve asked my assistant solicitors to tell law enforcement to charge him with the aggravated circumstances.”
Criminal domestic violence, first offense, is a misdemeanor offense that carries a sentence of up to 30 days or a $500 fine.
Criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature carries a minimum sentence of one year in prison and up to 10 years of incarceration.
Shuler was taken into custody on Tuesday after an altercation on Dre Court in Santee and was initially charged with pointing and presenting as well as criminal domestic violence.
Although unrelated, the incident eerily mirrored a domestic altercation on May 3 that left a 16-year law enforcement officer dead of a single gunshot wound. Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Cpl. William Howell was killed while providing an escort for a Holly Hill woman who said she had been threatened by her husband.
Around 5 p.m. Tuesday, Cpl. William Ketcherside, who was the officer who arrived only moments after Howell had been killed, answered the call and arrived on Dre Court to find a man standing in the road with a rifle pointed at a woman, according to a Sheriff’s Office incident report.
The man carrying the rifle then walked toward the deputy, stopped and pointed the weapon at the deputy before walking away, the report said.
Ketcherside then waited to approach the man until more officers arrived.
The woman told investigators she had approached her estranged husband earlier at which time an argument broke out.
At a bond hearing on Wednesday, Shuler told Orangeburg County Chief Magistrate Sam Daily that he didn’t fire the weapon because it jammed.
Daily asked if a nearby officer heard the comment concerning the weapon. When the officer acknowledged he did, the magistrate asked that a supplemental report be written.
“During the bond hearing, the subject stated he tried to shoot the victim and her friend but the gun jammed,” the supplemental report states. “He stated he took the weapon and went hunting the victim’s friend.”
Daily denied Shuler’s bond.
“I am contemplating charging him with assault with intent to kill,” Pascoe said. “This is just another case where we need tougher laws in South Carolina.”
T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5516.