Angry clash between Lexington, Dutch Fork students preceded fatal stabbing

A police video of murder defendant Kierin Dennis denying that he stabbed a Dutch Fork High School senior during a confrontation in a Lexington eatery parking lot took center stage Tuesday morning at Dennis’s trial.

The trial will continue Wednesday through midday, as attorneys and state Circuit Judge Eugene Griffith, along with county officials and Lexington Sheriff Jay Koon, agreed to press on since Hurricane Matthew is still at least four days from hitting South Carolina.

On the second day of the Dennis trial, prosecutors played a video made in the hours after Da’Von Capers, 18, was fatally stabbed on the night of Feb. 17, 2014. Capers was stabbed in the parking lot of the Cook Out in Lexington, where students from Dutch Fork, as well as Lexington High, had gone after a game between the longtime rival schools.

Dennis was a recent graduate of Lexington High, and tensions ran so high between students of the two schools that a near riot erupted after the game in the Lexington High parking lot, according to another video played at Tuesday’s trial. In that video, taken by a security camera, clashing students screamed guttural, unintelligible sounds at each other as horns honked, mixed with loud smacking sounds – as when a fist hits a face.

Prosecutors played the first video, of Dennis being interviewed by police, to show that Dennis initially tried to hide his actions from Lexington police.

Dennis later admitted he stabbed Capers, but says he was under attack by Dutch Fork students at the time and feared for his life.

Unlike in many murder trials, there is no doubt that Dennis stabbed Capers. The question before the jury is: did he do it in self defense? If the jury finds Dennis acted in self defense, he will be acquitted. If convicted of murder, Dennis faces 30 years to life in prison. Right now, manslaughter charges, with their lesser penalty, are not on the table.

In cross-examination, Todd Rutherford, Dennis’s attorney, emphasized by his questions to a Lexington police detective that police had gotten Dennis out of bed later on the night of the stabbing, and that he had told the police he had taken NyQuil before going to bed and was possibly disoriented during the interview.

In other striking testimony Tuesday, prosecutor Rhonda Patterson put Lexington High assistant principal Sherry Walters on the witness stand to introduce an 11-second video of angry, clashing Lexington and Dutch Fork students apparently on the verge of a riot outside Lexington’s gym, just after the game.

Although Dennis is not seen in that video, prosecutors were using it to illustrate how aggressive Lexington fans were an hour or so just before Capers was stabbed. On the video, Morgan Zander, a close friend of Dennis, is heard shouting, “What are we swinging?” “Swinging” is slang for “fighting.”

But in cross-examination, Dennis’ attorney Rutherford kept Walters on the stand and played the 11-second tape to her four times. He was trying to show the jury how aggressive Dutch Fork fans were – and why his client would later fear for his life.

A later witness, ex-Lexington County sheriff’s deputy Shawn Grant, testified that how at the time of that near-riot, he was in the parking lot trying to separate two groups of youths, one of whom was almost certainly Dennis.

Things got so explosive between the two groups, Grant testified, that he drew his Taser and was getting ready to fire it. He was wearing his uniform at the time, and that display of legal authority had no effect on the menacing youths, he testified.

While he had his Taser out and was getting ready to shoot at a group of Dutch Fork youths, Dennis walked up close behind him and was trading insults with the Dutch Fork youths.

On cross examination, Rutherford got Grant to describe how threatening the Dutch Fork students were.

“You were in full uniform, and even though you were telling them to leave, they continued to press forward, and you had to pull your Taser,” Rutherford asked.

“Yes, sir,” answered Grant.

Another murder trial, under state Judge Knox McMahon, will also continue at the Lexington County Westbrook Courthouse through midday Wednesday.

This story was originally published October 4, 2016 at 1:19 PM with the headline "Angry clash between Lexington, Dutch Fork students preceded fatal stabbing."