Retrial of man convicted of killing deputy to start today

The retrial for a man convicted of killing an off-duty Beaufort County sheriff's deputy in 2004 during a disagreement over a dead cat is scheduled to begin today in Columbia.

Thomas Grover Rye, 63, was found guilty of murdering Deputy Robert T. "Robb" Odam, 22, who joined the Sheriff's Office in 2003 and patrolled the Bluffton area.

Rye testified in the original trial that Odam, who was visiting family in Eastover near Columbia, allegedly killed one of his cats on Aug. 14, 2004.

Rye's attorneys said during the trial that he was defending his property after he heard gunshots and spotted Odam and two others walking into his yard to kill more cats, reports said.

Rye was sentenced to 30 years but served only 10 months before his release on bond in 2006. The S.C. Attorney General's Office misplaced paperwork that might have kept Rye in prison, reports said.

Odam's relatives, including Nancy Odam, his mother, are dreading the new trial.

"Robbie is our biggest loss that we're never, ever, ever going to get over," said Odam, who lives at Camp Lejeune, N.C., with her daughter and son-in-law. "But to have this happen with the legal system is devastating. We've lost the last five years of our lives. To watch my living children go through this trial again, it's horrible."