Court ruling reopens wounds

Judge voids murder conviction, orders new trial for Summersett

On a warm spring evening six years ago, Josephine Hawkins cradled her grandson in her arms as the life slowly ebbed from his body on a swath of grass across from her West Ashley home.

Julian "Dooly" Grant had tried to intervene in a brawl that spiraled out of control. Gunfire sounded. Julian, 27, dropped to the ground, a bullet in his chest.

Court records indicate that the neighbor's son who pulled the trigger — a man Julian once called a friend — ran off as Hawkins clutched Grant close.

"I was holding him when he died, and I watched the light go out in his eyes," Hawkins, 73, said softly. "He was the sweetest child."

The accused triggerman's parents still live right next door to Hawkins on Hazelwood Drive. She planted a bush in her yard a few years back to block the view of their home. But the leafy shrub can't hide the animosity and bitterness that lingers between the two families.

Those old wounds have reopened anew with the state Supreme Court's recent decision to void the murder conviction against James A. Summersett Jr. Citing errors by the original trial court, the justices ordered Summersett be granted a new trial for the April, 15, 2002 slaying.

Summersett, now 36, has been transferred from state prison to the Charleston County jail. He could be released on bail as early as Friday, when a bond hearing is scheduled. A new trial is expected within six months.

Hawkins doesn't know how she will deal with the possibility that she could look out her window one day soon and see Summersett move back into the house next door. "This is my home," she said. "Lord, I just hope I can make it through this."

Kimberly Grant, Julian's widow, remains a single parent raising their only daughter, Desaree, now 14 years old. She and her daughter plan to fight as hard they can to see Summersett's new trial end with the same result as the first — a life sentence in prison. But they will stay clear of Charleston County if he is released, she said.

"All my roots are in Charleston," Grant said. "But there is no way I could stay here with the possibility of my daughter or myself seeing him."

Summersett long has maintained that the shooting was an accident and that he never intended to kill Julian, a close boyhood friend.

Julian Grant, known as a peacemaker in the neighborhood, was shot as he tried to halt Summersett from pistol-whipping another man with a cocked gun during a melee that broke out in the street that night.

At his 2003 trial, Summersett maintained that the 9mm pistol accidentally fired when he and Grant fell over. Other testimony, however, suggested that Grant was shot while backing up. Some witnesses testified Summersett said he intended to shoot Grant's cousin, but hit Julian by mistake.

Prosecutors argued that Summersett was guilty of murder even if he hit the wrong man because he had fired the gun with the intent to kill someone. A jury deliberated 2 1/2 hours before convicting Summersett.

The state appeals court upheld the conviction, but the Supreme Court reversed that finding in July. The justices stated the trial judge erred by allowing prosecutors to cross-examine Summersett about the six children he had with five different women.

The justices ruled the questioning was not relevant to the case and was designed solely to paint Summersett as an irresponsible person who doesn't respect societal norms.

The Supreme Court also found the judge improperly allowed prejudicial testimony about a 1993 incident in which Summersett reportedly shot a man by accident in Charleston.

Defense attorneys argued that the trial court also erred in allowing the jury to consider rap lyrics Summersett had composed that contained death threats against Grant's cousin.

The Supreme Court, however, opted not to address that issue in its ruling.

Jack Swerling, Summersett's attorney, was pleased with the court's decision, calling it "the right outcome."

Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson declined to comment on the ruling, but she said prosecutors are prepared to retry Summersett on the murder charge, likely within six months.

"Obviously, given the age of the case, we want to try it as soon as we can," she said.

Wilson said it is difficult to say how the justices' ruling will impact the prosecution of a case that already presents challenges because of its age. A new prosecutor will have to learn the case, track down witnesses who might have moved, reassemble evidence from a trial five years past.

"It's hard to say, after all these years, what the evidence is going to look like now," she said.

In the meantime, Wilson said, prosecutors will seek to keep Summersett locked up until trial.

Swerling said he had not conferred with Summersett and didn't know how much bail his client's family was prepared to post to secure his release. Summersett's parents did not return a call from The Post and Courier.

Hawkins and Kimberly Grant said they are prepared to do what it takes to see the case through, as painful as they expect a second trial to be.

"Unfortunately, for justice to be served, we're going to have to do this all over again," Kimberly Grant said. "But I'm stronger now, and this is something we have to see through. The facts don't change and he is guilty of what he has done."

Reach Glenn Smith at 937-5556 or gsmith@postandcourier.com.