One woman was shot in neck and another is going to prison for decades, SC prosecutor says
A South Carolina woman was recently convicted on a murder charge and sentenced to decades in prison, the 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Office said Tuesday in a news release.
On Oct. 15, Stacey McClintock Catoe was found guilty of murder by a Kershaw County jury, according to the release. Catoe was sentenced to 35 years in the custody of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, the solicitor’s office said.
The conviction is connected to the fatal shooting of 55-year-old Brenda Coates, according to the release.
At about 9:30 p.m. on June 17, 2018, Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a shooting that happened at the intersection of U.S. 521 and Catoe Road in the Westville area, the solicitor’s office said.
Deputies found Coates had been fatally shot in the neck, according to the release.
According to testimony in the trial, a passenger in Coates’ car asked her to pull over to retrieve something from the back of the vehicle. The passenger said that Catoe then pulled up alongside Coates with her passenger window down and fired a single shot before driving away, the solicitor’s office said.
Deputies said Catoe’s husband was the passenger in Coates’ car, WSOC-TV reported. According to prosecutors, Coates and Catoe’s husband were lovers, WIS-TV reported.
Deputies later located Catoe at a family member’s home, where she attempted to hide her car near a wooded area, according to the solicitor’s office. Inside the vehicle, law enforcement officers found a .380 pistol along with a fired cartridge casing, the solicitor’s office said.
South Carolina Law Enforcement Division testing confirmed that the projectile recovered from Coates’ vehicle was fired from the .380 pistol found in Catoe’s car, according to the release.
An investigation that included phone analysis showed that the Catoe had been sending threats to Coates in the weeks leading up to the shooting, the solicitor’s office said. Information about the specific details included in the threats was not available.
Coates was survived by her mother, two daughters as well as two sons and six grandchildren among other family members, according to an obituary.
Assistant solicitors Dale Scott and Michael Bradbury prosecuted the case. Columbia attorney Jack Swerling served as Catoe’s lawyer, Kershaw County court records show.
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