Columbia gang member sentenced in a 2017 restaurant burglary that left a manager dead
A known gang member from Columbia was sentenced Monday for a burglary that ended with the fatal shooting of a restaurant and bar manager in Lexington County, prosecutors said.
Judge Eugene Griffith Jr. sentenced 31-year-old Christopher J. Brisbon to 60 years after a jury convicted him for murder, second-degree burglary and gun possession during a violent crime. A Lexington County jury found Brisbon guilty after a weeklong trial that started Feb. 22.
This case was prosecuted Deputy Solicitor Suzanne Mayes and Senior Assistant Solicitor Rhonda Patterson of the 11th Circuit Solicitor’s Office. Brisbon was defended by 11th Circuit Public Defender’s Office and attorney David Mauldin. Detective Brannon Marthers of the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department’s major crime unit was the lead investigator.
“We are grateful for the efforts of Sheriff Jay Koon and the entire sheriff’s department in their work on this case,” 11th Circuit Solicitor Rick Hubbard said in a statement. “The defendant was connected to gang activity in Richland County and crossed into Lexington County to commit this crime. We will pursue all measures to eliminate gang related violence in our community.”
On Dec. 17, 2017, at about 2 a.m., Brisbon and another man, armed with pistols and wearing masks, sneaked through a side door into City Nightz Bar and Grill at 2112 Old Dunbar Road. That’s near Cayce off the Charleston Highway. Brisbon and his accomplice intended to steal items that were located in the restaurant’s office, investigators said.
The masked men made their way to the back office, where they held up the restaurant manager, 41-year-old Rodney Leak prosecutors said. They shot Leak multiple times. He died at the scene.
Multiple people witnessed Brisbon and his accomplice, and one called deputies who immediately began investigating.
Sheriff’s department investigators found a .40 caliber handgun clip at the scene and sent it to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to be analyzed. Forensic analyzers found Brisbon’s fingerprint and DNA on the the clip, prosecutors said.
Investigators traced Brisbon’s phone and found he was in the area on the night of the shooting, according to prosecutors. Brisbon was charged less than a week after the shooting.
Prosecutors said Brisbon was connected to gang activity in Richland County.
He has a criminal record in Richland that goes back to 2008, when he pleaded guilty to possessing a stolen car, court records show. In the mid 2010s, Brisbon faced three crack cocaine and marijuana possession charges, pleading guilty to at least two of them. He was awaiting trial for 2016 charges of a second DUI and refusing to stop for police when he was arrested for Leak’s murder.
His accomplice has yet to be identified and is still at large, prosecutors said.
Brisbon began his sentence on Wednesday at Kirkland Correction Institution, a prison off Broad River Road in Columbia.