ST GEORGE, SOUTH CAROLINA: A South Carolina man who was accused of shooting his prominent lawyer father to death has been sentenced to life in prison. The tragic fatal shooting took place on New Year's Eve.
On Thursday, August 10, Jason Bell was convicted of murder in the death of his 76-year-old father, James 'Jim' Bell, according to solicitor David Pascoe of the First Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office in St. George, South Carolina, reported Law and Crime.
Who is Jason Bell?
Jason Bell who is now sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole "waited until celebratory fireworks began before shooting his sleeping father" on January 31, 2020, according to prosecutors.
"The victim was shot with his own Colt .38 revolver twice on the left side of his head. The elder Bell’s wife of 50 years, found him the following morning unresponsive in his recliner," read the statement.
The murderer initially attempted to deceive law enforcement that his father's death was a suicide. "That theory would quickly fall apart when it was determined that a revolver found underneath the victim’s body was fired twice," according to the statement.
"The St George Police Department immediately interviewed the defendant where he admitted he drank an entire bottle of champagne or rum before noon on that day," the statement continued.
Bell then "removed the weapon from a drawer in the home while his parents were out for lunch, loaded the weapon, and then planned to shoot his father that evening," the statement added.
Who was James 'Jim' Bell?
According to Charleston’s Post and Courier newspaper, Bell told authorities that days before the death, his father had been screaming in pain and may have run out of painkillers.
The defendant reportedly later admitted and claimed that he murdered his father out of mercy, a claim the prosecutors challenged in court. His father had received oxygen therapy as he suffered from pulmonary fibrosis, a respiratory illness.
The media outlet reported that Jim Bell was a "prominent lawyer" who practiced law in the St. George community for nearly 50 years. His wife, Rose Bell, with whom he had been married for 53 years spoke during the court hearing.
"It’s been a hard time for a while. The Jason that we knew is no longer the Jason who is here today," the convicted killer's mother told the judge.
Bell, who served 20 months in prison in North Carolina for an armed invasion, returned to live with his parents. "He had a wonderful personality. He had a good job as a surgical technologist in Summerville," Rose said in court.
"He threw all of that away when he decided to change his life and hurt the very people who loved him the most," she said and also disputed her son's claim that her husband ran out of medication and screamed in pain.
