10.Benjamin Boyd — Direct/Cross (Recall)
161 linesBENJAMIN BOYD, being first duly sworn, testified as follows:
COURT CLERK: Sir, once you're seated state your full name, spelling your last.
BENJAMIN BOYD: My name is Ben Boyd, B-O-Y-D.
DIRECT EXAMINATION By Mr. Hubbard:
RICK HUBBARD: Mr. Boyd -- Officer Boyd --
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yes.
RICK HUBBARD: -- where do you work?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Kirkland Institution, and I work for the Department of Corrections for the State of South Carolina.
RICK HUBBARD: How long have you been working there?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Six and a half or seven years, just about, at Kirkland and another two at another institution.
RICK HUBBARD: Back on September 12th, 2014, were you working together with Lieutenant Pressley when the Defendant, Tim Jones, was brought in?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yes.
RICK HUBBARD: And do you remember him coming in -- is it the maximum security area? That's where you were working?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yes.
RICK HUBBARD: What do you recall when --
COURT REPORTER: Is that yes?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yes.
RICK HUBBARD: What do you recall when he was brought in?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Excuse me. Say that again.
RICK HUBBARD: What do you recall when he was brought in?
BENJAMIN BOYD: I recall that the van pulled up. I was on the outer side of the sally port gate as the door was -- the van was backing in. And then he came in, and then the sheriff's deputy got out and she opened the door and she was getting the rest of his equipment and he jumped down out of the van. I had him by the arm and I escorted him in the door.
RICK HUBBARD: Do you remember what time that was?
BENJAMIN BOYD: I can't remember what time it was. It could have been just before lunch or somewhere around there because I was just coming back with the food for the other 48 inmates that's in MSU.
RICK HUBBARD: Did you end up writing a statement at some point?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yes, I did.
RICK HUBBARD: If I show you the time you wrote, is that your writing?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yes, it is.
RICK HUBBARD: When did you say this occurred?
BENJAMIN BOYD: About 2:20 p.m.
RICK HUBBARD: All right. Do you remember Inmate Jones saying anything?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yes.
RICK HUBBARD: Do you remember him becoming a little emotional?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yeah, he was emotional. A little -- crying a little bit at first. And then --
RICK HUBBARD: What, if anything, did Lieutenant Pressley do at that point?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Well, Lieutenant Pressley had a lot of multiple duties anyway. And then he -- he was standing there at the gate. And then once that door closed and then we opened the door, him and Sergeant Hawkins came in and we strip searched him. We checked all of his items, sit him in a -- he sits in a metal chair to make sure he doesn't have any metal on his body. And then we put him in restraints, and then we take him out of sally port and get ready to have him, medical would see him next.
RICK HUBBARD: What, if any -- so he went to medical after that?
BENJAMIN BOYD: So once he came through the gate, we was standing there with Lieutenant Pressley, and then, you know, Lieutenant Pressley, like I said, multiple duties. He's looking into medical. He's asking them are they ready to see him and, you know, we're all kind of in the same area. We're all pretty much together.
RICK HUBBARD: Before Inmate Jones leaves you, what, if anything, do you hear him say?
BENJAMIN BOYD: He said that his son was messing with an electrical socket. And, in his mind, he thought he was trying to hurt something and he killed him and he put his hands up like this, you know, showing how he did it. And then he put his hands down. And then he said his daughter walked in.
RICK HUBBARD: What did he say about that or did you hear the rest of it?
BENJAMIN BOYD: I heard him say the daughter, and then it was just like -- you know, I'm still turning around and checking on other things that's going on. And then I came back -- you know, came back to him for that minute, but --
RICK HUBBARD: But you heard him mention the daughter?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yes.
RICK HUBBARD: You didn't hear what happened to the daughter at all, from him?
BENJAMIN BOYD: From him --
RICK HUBBARD: And if you don't remember, that's fine.
BENJAMIN BOYD: I don't -- I don't really remember right now, at this time.
RICK HUBBARD: Okay. That's fair enough. But you remember him talking about his son and an electrical outlet.
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yeah. And his daughter coming in -- walking in and seeing him.
RICK HUBBARD: What did he do to his son with the electrical outlet?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Well, he said he choked his daughter -- I mean, his son. He choked his son out.
RICK HUBBARD: With his hands?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yeah, with his bare hands.
RICK HUBBARD: Thank you, Officer Boyd.
CROSS-EXAMINATION By Mr. Madsen:
ROBERT MADSEN: Officer Boyd --
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yes.
ROBERT MADSEN: -- so you were there when a Lexington County van pulls up with Tim, correct?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Uh-huh.
ROBERT MADSEN: And you say he gets out with a sheriff's deputy?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yeah.
ROBERT MADSEN: And you all have to, I guess, strip search him. So take all his Lexington County stuff off?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Once he comes in the building.
ROBERT MADSEN: Right.
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yeah.
ROBERT MADSEN: But you're there when that happens?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Uh-huh.
ROBERT MADSEN: And you give him all that stuff, and then they, I guess, leave and you all put your stuff on him?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yes.
ROBERT MADSEN: And so, the intake procedure. You say you do that, then you sit him in a metal chair to make sure that they don't have any --
BENJAMIN BOYD: Any type of metal in their body, because people do hide stuff in their body.
ROBERT MADSEN: Sure.
BENJAMIN BOYD: Cell phones, whatever.
ROBERT MADSEN: And who is there when he gets there?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Like I said, I was at the back door and then I said something and Sergeant Hawkins was standing there, then Pressley was standing there. And then we all came in when the sheriff's deputy closed the door.
ROBERT MADSEN: How about Officer Stroman?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Stroman was outside where we call on the tier, on the, he's just out -- out there --
ROBERT MADSEN: So was he there?
BENJAMIN BOYD: -- for a minute. It was like Stroman was doing a couple more duties. There's 48 people in that building and we have to keep our eyes on everybody while that's going on no matter who was back there. The officers that work on the wing have to go on the wing and check on death row inmates or anybody else that's down there.
ROBERT MADSEN: But you understand that your report says that Officer Stroman was there, also, correct?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yeah. He was on-duty.
ROBERT MADSEN: Okay. So you four were the only officers on-duty?
BENJAMIN BOYD: It was four of us and somebody -- somebody was in the control room at that time. They was in the control room opening and closing the gates. I can't recall who was -- somebody stepped in there temporarily, but it was a day when we were pretty, you know, short.
ROBERT MADSEN: And on September 12th of 2014, I guess, you wrote your report at 3:30, correct?
BENJAMIN BOYD: No. That's 2:00 --
ROBERT MADSEN: Well, that's not the time of the report is 3:30?
BENJAMIN BOYD: The time of the report, 3:30. The time of the incident was around 2:00.
ROBERT MADSEN: 2:20, I guess, is what you have listed, correct?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yes.
ROBERT MADSEN: And how long have you been with SCDC?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Eight years.
ROBERT MADSEN: Eight years. And you've been trained to write truthful, accurate and complete reports?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yes.
ROBERT MADSEN: And you wrote a report about an hour and ten minutes afterwards, correct?
BENJAMIN BOYD: It probably was about that time.
ROBERT MADSEN: And yet, there's nothing in your report that says anything about the daughter, does it?
BENJAMIN BOYD: No.
ROBERT MADSEN: And, in fact, your report says that he killed his kids with his own hands after his son was messing around with his electrical socket, correct?
BENJAMIN BOYD: That sounds about right.
ROBERT MADSEN: And that's all you wrote?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yeah. I wrote -- somebody told me to write -- I had to write a quick incident report because I was in the middle of doing -- it was time to feed and it was time to pull some other people that was on the red field so long, you know --
ROBERT MADSEN: Sure.
BENJAMIN BOYD: -- that -- because he was in the middle.
ROBERT MADSEN: It was busy at that time?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yeah.
ROBERT MADSEN: And so, you went back and you wrote a supplemental report later when it wasn't that busy?
BENJAMIN BOYD: No, I didn't.
ROBERT MADSEN: How about the next day?
BENJAMIN BOYD: No, I didn't.
ROBERT MADSEN: Ever?
BENJAMIN BOYD: No, I didn't. I just wrote that report and nobody asked me to rewrite it.
ROBERT MADSEN: And at some point in time, you met with the Solicitor's Office, I guess, April 3rd of 2019, correct?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yes.
ROBERT MADSEN: And we're talking about the two at the table and, I guess, Matt Martin and Shawn Graham who, I guess, is not in here right now, correct?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Uh-huh.
ROBERT MADSEN: And --
COURT REPORTER: Is that a yes?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yes.
ROBERT MADSEN: Sorry. She's got to take down --
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yeah.
ROBERT MADSEN: -- everything we say. And you told them that Lieutenant Pressley asked what happened. Is that correct?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yes.
ROBERT MADSEN: And then you said that after that, that you and Pressley were talking about how Jones had arrived at SCDC without the media --
RICK HUBBARD: Your Honor --
ROBERT MADSEN: -- finding out?
RICK HUBBARD: -- if I can interject with an objection just to clarify because of your ruling --
THE COURT: Yeah.
RICK HUBBARD: -- on the question.
THE COURT: Sure. That's fair enough. Keep going.
ROBERT MADSEN: And you had indicated that Tim was upset and crying during this time?
BENJAMIN BOYD: He was crying more when he came in the first gate. When he was standing there with us while we was waiting for medical, he kind of was calming down a little bit because I started asking -- I asked him about the escort. I did ask him about the escort, because many times we've seen, you know, they come with a lot of people, two or three people. And he said his escort went left and they went right, faking them out or something. And then Pressley came in and asked him what happened. You know, he thought -- he came in the middle of that conversation. He didn't ask him what happened to ask him what happened to him.
ROBERT MADSEN: So it would be inaccurate if the notes from the Solicitor's Office indicate that Boyd stated that Jones began talking when Pressley --
RICK HUBBARD: Your Honor --
ROBERT MADSEN: -- asked what happened?
RICK HUBBARD: -- I object. Publishing the document.
ROBERT MADSEN: Judge, I'm just asking --
THE COURT: No, no, no, no. Don't pit a witness. I mean, you can ask him the questions.
ROBERT MADSEN: Judge, I'm trying to. He just said something different.
THE COURT: No, I don't know that he did. Rephrase the question.
ROBERT MADSEN: And if it says, "Pressley asked what happened," and then it says, "Boyd stated prior to this, he and Pressley were talking about how Jones had arrived at SCDC without the media finding out." Is that incorrect?
BENJAMIN BOYD: That's -- no. That's not incorrect, because he was just -- Pressley stepped away from him for a second. And then came back and Hawkins was standing there and I was standing there and we were just -- Hawkins is CIT trained, too. So he was talking to him and smiling, and there was no -- we didn't ask him anything about what he did or what he'd done. We never do that when people come in the back door.
ROBERT MADSEN: That's not part --
BENJAMIN BOYD: We might know what you done, but we never do it.
ROBERT MADSEN: That's not part of the intake procedures?
ROBERT MADSEN: And so, you see him come in at 2:20. He couldn't have met with medical or anyone else prior to that?
BENJAMIN BOYD: If you had a diagram of MSU, it's possible.
ROBERT MADSEN: But I thought you said he came in -- you watched him come in on a van?
BENJAMIN BOYD: When he was standing there with us, if you turned around now, medical will be right behind you. Behind the Judge would be where they was -- people were fingerprinting him and they were out there. Medical was talking to him, either the psychiatrist. It all was done in the same building. Mr. Jones is a safekeeper. He couldn't be on the regular yard and come through the regular process. So he came back to MSU and everybody came to him.
ROBERT MADSEN: And you had made mention of death row, but in 2014, death row wasn't at that location, was it?
BENJAMIN BOYD: No. But we had people that were on death row before that. After their death date, they get to go somewhere else because they committed crimes against officers or other inmates in the jail. So they come to Kirkland.
ROBERT MADSEN: And that's the majority of those people in that MSU are someone who has gotten in trouble in some other location within the Department of Corrections and that's, basically, the supermax there?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yes.
ROBERT MADSEN: So Tim was different than that?
BENJAMIN BOYD: I don't know if he was different because there was another safekeeper on the same wing as him from Chester -- Chester County, I think it was.
ROBERT MADSEN: But a safekeeper is not someone who's gotten in trouble in SCDC?
BENJAMIN BOYD: Yeah. He's never been in SCDC and never got in trouble.
ROBERT MADSEN: That's all the questions I have.
RICK HUBBARD: No further questions. Thank you, Officer.
THE COURT: Thank you very much.
BENJAMIN BOYD: All right. (Whereupon, the witness stepped down from the witness stand).