Judge sentences SC woman to 25 years in prison after she attacked relative with hammer
A South Carolina woman pleaded guilty to nearly killing her relative in a brutal attack with a hammer at a Lexington County home, the 11th Circuit Solicitor’s Office announced Friday.
Amy Lynn Wright, 36, pleaded guilty to attempted murder against a relative who was 64 years old at the time of the attack. Wright was sentenced on Feb. 8 to 25 years in prison with no parole.
The victim was a relative of Wright’s by marriage.
Senior Assistant Solicitor Sutania A. Fuller prosecuted the case. Stephen Story, Jr of Lexington County’s public defenders office defended Wright. Judge Kristi Curtis presided over the case and sentenced Wright.
“This was an unjustified attack” because the victim simply wanted Wright’s children to behave in the home, Fuller said.
Wright and her two children were living with the victim in 2020 for about two weeks when the attack occurred, the solicitor’s office said. In August, the victim “expressed concern” about Wright’s excessive drinking, according to prosecutors. She also expressed displeasure about the behavior of Wright’s children.
Upstairs, the victim’s granddaughter heard her grandmother call for help during the attack, prosecutors said. When the granddaughter came downstairs, prosecutors said she saw Wright leave the house.
Wright later admitted that she attacked the victim on the morning of Aug. 18 because the victim kept telling the children not to touch things and not to run around the house, prosecutors said.
When an officer with the Cayce Police Department arrived, the victim was sitting on a couch, with her head, face and hand covered in blood, the solicitor’s office said. Blood was pooled on the floor, and a hammer was on the ground.
Hammer imprints were found on the victim’s head, one officer reported.
The victim was hospitalized with skull fractures, a bleeding and swelling brain and an injured hand, the solicitor’s office said. The bone around one of her eyes was damaged so severely that her eye had to be sewn shut, and a finger on one of her hands had to be amputated.
The victim was put on life support with little brain activity, prosecutors said.
The victim survived after two months in the hospital but “her way of life will never be the same,” prosecutors said in a statement.
The victim’s family said she now relies on others to take care of her.
She “was the glue that held the family together,” family members said in a quote provided by prosecutors.
Wright had a prior criminal history for assault and battery with intent to kill, possession of marijuana, DUI and child endangerment, prosecutors said. Lexington County court records show Wright was found guilty of third-degree assault and battery last year and public disorderly conduct in 2010.
Wright will serve out her prison sentence at the South Carolina Department of Corrections Graham Correctional Institution in Columbia.
This story was originally published February 19, 2022 at 1:11 PM.