Second man convicted and sentenced in 2015 shooting death of White Knoll High grad

Twenty-two-year old James David Porter was gunned down on a deserted dirt road August 2, 2015, by two men who thought he was a police snitch.

Friday, the second man charged with murder in his death, Charles Alton Morehouse, 40, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, 11th circuit solicitor Rick Hubbard said in a news release.

The other man, Wiley Eugene Sisk, III, was convicted of murder and other charges in December, 2016, and sentenced to 45 years in prison.

Morehouse headed a methamphetamine ring in Lexington County and was the focus on an ongoing narcotics investigation at the time of the murder, Hubbard said. He and Sisk met Porter on a a dirt stretch of Old Orangeburg Road after the exchange of numerous text messages earlier in the evening.

Those texts on Porter’s phone, which was found with his body, led investigators to Morehouse, Hubbard said. DNA on a cigarette butt tied Morehouse to the scene where Porter was shot multiple times.

At Morehouse’s sentencing, members of Porter’s family described the young man as a devoted son and brother.

This story was originally published January 13, 2017 at 6:24 PM with the headline "Second man convicted and sentenced in 2015 shooting death of White Knoll High grad."