Ridgeland woman sentenced to eight years in pruning-shears attack on husband

RIDGELAND -- A 40-year-old Ridgeland woman was sentenced to eight years in prison Tuesday for stabbing her husband in the face with pruning shears in August.

Eloise Simmons was convicted of high and aggravated criminal domestic violence, the eighth time she has been convicted of a domestic violence charge.

Prosecutors put her case on a fast-track in August when she attacked her husband of 21 years two days after being released from the Jasper County jail, where she served a year before pleading guilty to a previous domestic violence charge.

Simmons went home to try to reconcile with her husband -- who did not want to get back together -- and ended up stabbing him, authorities said. His injury required a half dozen stitches.

"We were concerned ... that if we didn't do something, she would get out of jail and kill him," said assistant solicitor Meredith Bannon, who prosecuted the case.

Solicitor Duffie Stone instructed Bannon to bring the case to trial the next time criminal court was held in Jasper County, which was Monday.

Simmons has 35 previous convictions, including domestic violence charges in 1994, 1996, 2002, 2003 and 2007.

In addition to those, she previously was convicted of two high and aggravated domestic violence charges, four public disorderly conduct charges, two resisting arrest charges and three assaults of a high and aggravated nature, according to prosecutors.

Nationally, about 85 percent of those charged with domestic violence are men.

"We shouldn't assume they're all men because they're not," Stone said. "She is without a doubt a career criminal and she's also without a doubt a tremendous threat to her husband."

Stone is in the process of securing money from municipalities to create a new prosecution team to aggressively prepare trials against career criminals awaiting trial in the Beaufort County jail.

So far, Beaufort County and Bluffton have pledged money for the $264,450 a year team of three lawyers and a victims advocate. Hilton Head Island and Beaufort still are considering funding requests.

"This case is an example of exactly how I want the career criminal team to work," Stone said.

WHERE TO FIND HELP

• If you or someone you know is the victim of domestic abuse, call Citizens Opposed to Domestic Abuse 24 hours a day at 843-770-1070 or 800-868-2632.

• CODA offers emergency shelter, legal services, counseling and case management to residents of Beaufort, Jasper, Hampton and Colleton counties.