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| Death Row inmates use threat to get keys |
| By The State |
| Published: 04/29/2004 |
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Two Death Row inmates will lose privileges after a corrections officer was threatened Wednesday with a homemade weapon and ordered to give up his keys, said Bob Ward, director of operations for the South Carolina Department of Corrections. No charges have been filed against James Neil Tucker, 47,and Richard Longworth, 36, who are being held at Leiber Correctional Institution in Ridgeville, said Ward, who gave this account: The two inmates were in a sectioned-off space in the recreation yard, which is attached to the Death Row cellblock, about 10:30 a.m. As the officer was releasing them from the individual recreation area, Tucker drew a safety razor blade melted into a toothbrush. He threatened the officer and told him to hand over his keys. After putting the officer in the recreation section, Tucker and Longworth left. The inmates might have thought the keys would open the recreation yard gate, but the keys did not, Ward said. The officer called for help, and a second officer drove his vehicle to the gate, where he asked for backup. Tucker and Longworth were then put back in their cells. The incident lasted less than four minutes. Authorities are investigating how Tucker obtained the razor blade. He was sentenced to death for the 1992 murders of Rosa Lee Dolly Oakley of Sumter and Shannon Mellon of Calhoun County. Longworth was sentenced to death for the 1991 murders of Alex Hopps and Todd Green of Spartanburg. |
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