Trial against suspended Marlboro County Sheriff continues

MARLBORO COUNTY, S.C. (WPDE) — Jarrel Johnson, 38, testified for the government on Wednesday in the trial of suspended Marlboro County Sheriff Charles Lemon.

Lemon is charged with a felony count of civil rights violations. The federal indictment against Lemon was filed in January.

A Marlboro County grand jury indicted Lemon and former deputy David Andrew Cook in December 2021 following an investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED).

Lemon and Cook face charges of aggravated assault and abuse of office.

The indictment states that Lemon ordered Cook to stun an inmate at the Marlboro County Detention Center in May 2020. The incident was recorded on Cook's body camera.

Cook pleaded guilty to the charges against him earlier this year. U.S. Attorney Everette McMillan questioned Johnson about beating his father with a baseball bat and shocking him with a stun gun.

Johnson said he could not remember much of either incident. However, he admitted to smoking marijuana the night before the incident.

Johnson's father, Pastor Ronnie Johnson, testified on behalf of the government. Pastor Johnson was very polite and friendly on the witness stand, even when faced with difficult questions.

Johnson told the jury that Lemon intervened with his son in 2017 when Jarrel threatened to go to Chesterfield County and kill his then-wife.

I didn't want anything to happen to my son, but I also didn't want my son to potentially take his ex-wife's life,” Johnson said.

Johnson said there was a wanted poster for his son. Johnson added that he and Lemon talked to Jarrel to get him to give them his gun, but Jarrel left.

Johnson said his son returned and his mother took the gun from him and gave it to Lemon.

Johnson said Lemon asked for the search for Jarrel to be called off, and that was done. Johnson said Lemon returned the gun to him and his wife several weeks later.

“That day, I felt like he saved my son’s life,” Johnson said.

Johnson said his son knocked on the back door of his house on the morning of May 3, 2020. He told the jury he thought Jarrel wanted to go to church with him.

Johnson said his son was hurt because his ex-wife had remarried the day before. He said that's when things took a bad turn.

Johnson said Jarrel got into his van, took his Bible and threw it in the trash.

He takes my Bible and throws it in his trash can. At that moment I just completely lost consciousness,” Johnson said.

He said his son never acted that way and he was hurt because he threw his Bible in the trash. Johnson added that Jarrel attacked him with a baseball bat moments later.

“I just remember my arms falling apart. And I was trying to protect myself. All I know is I fell on the highway,” Johnson said.

He told the jury that at that moment he heard his neighbor trying to help him. Johnson said that the beating left him in pretty bad shape and he had to go to the hospital. He said that he had to learn to walk again.

When Johnson spoke in the courtroom about the brutal beating, you could have heard a pin drop.

Two members of the jury appeared to be wiping tears from their eyes, and another juror kept his head bowed as Johnson testified.

A week later, Johnson made a statement to MPs about the attack.

He told jurors that officers told him they used a stun gun on Jarrel because he attacked Lemon.

Johnson said he believed that story for a year and seven months until the bodycam video surfaced and Lemon and Cook were arrested.

“I believed everything they told me,” Johnson said.

Earlier Wednesday, James Fennel of the SC Criminal Justice Academy testified on behalf of the government about Lemon's training in the use of stun guns.

Outside the presence of the jury, there was a long discussion about how detailed Fennel could talk about Lemon's training.

The judge allowed federal prosecutors to ask Fennel whether Lemon had been trained in the state's standards for using stun guns, but he could not provide any further details about the training.

ABC15 obtained a copy of Lemon's training records from the SC Criminal Justice Academy, which showed Lemon received training in 2018 on legal updates related to the use of force.

Former Bennettsville Police Sergeant Robert Miller was one of the first officers to arrive at the scene on Union Street in Bennettsville on May 3, 2020.

Miller said he called emergency services because Johnson was in poor health after being hit with a baseball bat.

He told the jury that Johnson's shirt was covered in blood. Miller also testified about Jarrel's behavior when he arrived at the scene.

“He wasn’t violent,” Miller said.

The government is expected to call more witnesses on Thursday and could complete its evidence by the afternoon. Lemon's lawyers are also expected to call several people to testify on his behalf.

ABC15 will let you know when the jury reaches a verdict.