Sentencing of convicted Columbia teen killer delayed

A sentencing hearing for convicted teen killer Trenton Barnes has been delayed until Dec. 12.

The hearing for Barnes, 17, who was convicted last week in the 2013 shooting death of Kelly Hunnewell, a mother of four school-age children, was delayed at the request of Barnes’ lawyer, Mark Schnee.

The hearing before Judge Robert Hood was supposed to be Tuesday at the Richland County courthouse.

A jury last week took two hours to find Barnes and co-defendant Lorenzo Young, 20, guilty of murder, kidnapping, attempted armed robbery and second degree burglary.

Among the evidence: a vivid surveillance tape that showed two young men wearing hoodies entering a Columbia bakery in the early morning hours of July 1, 2013, and one of them killing her by shooting her in the throat.

Hood sentenced Young to life in prison without parole. Young had bragged to acquaintances he would not be found guilty, according to trial evidence.

At the time of Hunnewell’s death, Barnes was 16. He turns 18 at the end of this month.

A recent S.C. Supreme Court decision ruled that people under age 18 who are found guilty of serious crimes, and who therefore become eligible for lengthy prison sentences including life, must have a separate sentencing hearing.

At such a hearing, a judge gets information from defendants’ family members, medical and mental health histories along with other aspects of their lives to determine whether their ages entitle them to lesser sentences.

This story was originally published November 25, 2014 at 10:13 PM with the headline "Sentencing of convicted Columbia teen killer delayed."