SC killer ‘Jessie James’ couldn’t leave guns alone. Now prison beckons – again

You might think killer James Oxendine had enough of prison after serving almost 15 years for gunning down a man at a Columbia-area night club in 2002.

You’d be wrong.

Barely had he left prison in November 2016, the 36-year-old Oxendine — whose nickname is “Jessie James,” after the Old West killer and train robber — starting fooling around with guns again along North Columbia’s Main Street.

The law noticed and pounced.

So it was on Wednesday that Oxendine stood in Columbia’s federal courthouse in front of U.S. District Court Judge Terry Wooten and admitted possessing two pistols — including one likened to a hand-held AK-47, the Soviet bloc combat assault weapon — in the months after he left prison.

“Guilty, your honor,” Oxendine told Wooten, who has a reputation for handing down tough sentences.

Wooten can send Oxendine to prison for up to 10 years. That’s because, under federal law, convicted felons like Oxendine lose their rights to have a gun. As a result, ex-convicts caught with one are all but guaranteed another stretch in prison. The judge will sentence Oxendine in May, taking into account the circumstances surrounding his latest arrest.

Those circumstances aren’t good.

That is because Oxendine was caught with more than guns.

Starting in February 2017, a little more than two months after he left prison, Columbia police had reports that Oxendine was dealing drugs and carrying weapons.

▪ Last Feb. 22, police had evidence Oxendine was doing numerous drug transactions in north Columbia while possessing a Ruger .357-caliber Magnum handgun, according to a warrant.

▪ On May 29, in the same neighborhood, Oxendine pointed a pistol at a local resident and ordered him out of a car. The victim fled, according to a warrant.

▪ On May 31, in the same neighborhood, Oxendine was walking around with an AK-47 and wearing a bullet-proof vest in the middle of the afternoon. Residents called police, who arrested Oxendine, recovering marijuana and two pistols, including the AK-47, according to warrants and police records.

That was the last time Oxendine tasted freedom. Since June 1, he has been behind bars at Richland County’s Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Will Lewis, who is prosecuting the case, said Oxendine wound up in federal court under a local-federal partnership called “Real Time,” active in Columbia, Greenville and a few other jurisdictions.

Under Real Time, if local police arrest someone with a gun who has been convicted of a prior violent offense, they can contact the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which looks immediately into the possibility of lodging federal gun charges.

That is what happened in Oxendine’s case, Lewis said. “We charged federally that next day. This program identifies repeat violent offenders who are possessing firearms in our community.”

The evidence against Oxendine for possessing guns is strong, Lewis told the judge. It includes fingerprints, cell-phone text messages and eyewitness testimony — from police as well as citizens in north Columbia.

“The great thing about this case was that it was initiated by community members,” Lewis said.

At least Oxendine didn’t kill anyone this time.

In 2002, Oxendine was arguing with David T. Bradford at a Fairfield Road nightclub when he whipped out a pistol and shot Bradford several times, killing him. In 2004, Oxendine was sentenced to 15 years in state prison for voluntary manslaughter.

This story was originally published January 31, 2018 at 6:47 PM with the headline "SC killer ‘Jessie James’ couldn’t leave guns alone. Now prison beckons – again."