Elgin man sentenced to life in prison for deadly 2017 Columbia stabbing
A five-year-old Columbia homicide case came to an end Thursday.
Matthew Scott Young, 48, of Elgin, was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to life in prison without parole in the stabbing death of 28-year-old Abdias O. Pacius of Neptune, New Jersey.
The case was prosecuted by Carter Potts and Andrew Smith of the 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Office of Richland County. Lawyer Foster Mathews defended Young. Judge Robert Hood presided over the trial.
Young stabbed Pacius out of anger during an altercation in December 2017 outside of a home on Heritage Village Lane off Broad River Road in the Harbison area, police said.
Young was originally charged with murder. Prosecutors later reduced the charge to voluntary manslaughter. A jury found him guilty Thursday and the judge sentenced him the same day.
Young also pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing a weapon during a violent crime, according to court records.
Young is currently jailed at Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center while he waits to be transferred to the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
Young is also facing a wrongful death lawsuit brought by family of Pacius.
This story was originally published February 19, 2022 at 10:49 AM.