Mistrial denied for suspect in 2014 murder of 70-year-old Bluffton woman

The trial of a Hollywood man charged in the 2014 murder of a Bluffton woman was paused briefly Tuesday while the judge considered a defense request for a mistrial following testimony from a Charleston detective who assisted in the arrest.

A jury of nine women and three men was asked to leave the courtroom for about an hour after Detective Matt Downing of the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office identified a card in Jerry Lee Manigault’s wallet as an identification card for the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

Manigault, 56, faces burglary, sexual assault and murder charges in the death of 70-year-old Polly Ann Mitchell on May 12, 2014. Mitchell was found with a television cord wrapped around her neck.

When Downing identified the card from Manigault’s wallet as he was questioned by 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone, Beaufort County Chief Public Defender Trasi Campbell objected, saying jurors may make judgments based on prior convictions against Manigault. Campbell requested a mistrial.

Circuit Court Judge Craig Brown sent the jury away and secluded himself in his chambers for over an hour. He returned and announced that the jury would be instructed to disregard Downing’s statement.

“I instruct you to disregard this improper and inadmissable evidence,” Brown told jurors. “It cannot be a part of your decision-making in any way.”

Manigault has been a registered sex offender since 1996 and was arrested hours after Mitchell’s body was found because he was wanted for failing to register as a sex offender.

Downing’s testimony joined the testimony of nine others, including members of the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office, the Bluffton Police Department and Beaufort County EMS; a forensic pathologist; Mitchell’s grandson Derrick Bolden; Mitchell’s friend Helen Warren; and Filipe Pinckney, a man who lived near Mitchell.

Stone said in his opening statement that Manigault was found with a backpack belonging to Mitchell with her jewelry inside, along with money with blood on it. He was wearing Mitchell’s ring on one of his fingers, Stone said.

Mitchell, he said, was beaten, raped and choked prior to her death at her 16 Buck Island Road home.

Stone also said that Mitchell had traces of Manigault’s flesh under her fingernails and that Manigault had blood on his underwear when he was taken into custody.

Campbell told the jury that shoe impressions left at Mitchell’s home were never compared with the shoes Manigault wore, and that semen found on Mitchell’s nightgown did not belong to Manigault.

Lt. Joseph George of the Bluffton Police Department, who was one of the first responders to arrive at Mitchell’s home, told the jury he found her deceased.

“She was partially naked,” George testified. “She had what I thought was a cord around her neck.”

Dr. Darren Monroe, a forensic pathologist working with the Medical University of South Carolina at the time of Mitchell’s death, assisted on Mitchell’s autopsy and responded to the scene.

Monroe held up the television cord allegedly used to choke Mitchell in court.

Sgt. Brandon Disbrow of the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office also testified as a criminal investigator who processed Mitchell’s home for evidence.

Disbrow said all of the windows at Mitchell’s home were either painted shut or had screens that were nailed shut. The only exception was a window that held an air-conditioning unit in Mitchell’s bedroom. A small spot of suspected blood was found inside the air-conditioning unit that appeared to have been disturbed, he said.

Fingerprints collected by Disbrow on a television in the living room did not reveal a match, he said.

Manigault is also awaiting trial on charges of kidnapping, strong-arm robbery and murder in connection with the death of 77-year-old Julia Ann Mudgett of Hollywood, a community south of Charleston.

Manigault allegedly broke into Mudgett’s home between May 4 and May 6, 2014, and killed her.

He was seen driving Mudgett’s vehicle around Bluffton, officials said at the time of his arrest.

The trial in Mitchell’s death is expected to resume around 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

This story was originally published February 28, 2017 at 7:41 AM with the headline "Mistrial denied for suspect in 2014 murder of 70-year-old Bluffton woman."