SC man gets life in prison with no parole in murder, sexual assault of toddler
A South Carolina man will spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty to murdering and sexually assaulting a two-year-old.
According to the Eighth Circuit Solicitor’s Office, Clinton’s Ryan William Looper, 30, pleaded guilty Thursday to murder, criminal sexual conduct with a minor and two counts of unlawful conduct toward a child. Under the plea agreement, Looper was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors had initially sought the death penalty against Looper, but dropped that in exchange for a guilty plea and cooperation with prosecutors to testify as to crimes in which he was a victim, a solicitor’s office press release said.
In June 2018, Laurens County deputies responded to a home and found two-year-old Brantley Smith, the child of Looper’s then-girlfriend, unresponsive, with bruises all over his body. The child was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to the release from the solicitor’s office, Looper admitted beating and abusing the child repeatedly for approximately two weeks, and that he “did not know why.” He also reportedly confessed to sexually assaulting the child.
“Billy Looper’s actions are the very face of evil and it is unfathomable the depth of that evil faced by Brantley on that horrific night,” Eighth Circuit Solicitor Stumbo said.
