Hilton Head Island Packet Logo

Victims testify on first day of rape, kidnapping trial | Hilton Head Island Packet

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Customer Service
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Archives
    • Contact Us
    • eEdition
    • Newsletters
    • Subscribe
    • Contests
    • About Us
    • Sponsorships
    • News
    • Beaufort Gazette
    • Bluffton Packet
    • Special Reports
    • Databases
    • Local
    • South Carolina
    • Traffic
    • Crime & Public Safety
    • Business
    • Politics & Elections
    • Military
    • Nation & World
    • Professional Opinion
    • Lottery Results
    • Blog: Untamed Lowcountry
    • Sports
    • College
    • Golf
    • RBC Heritage
    • Recreation
    • High School
    • MLB
    • NFL
    • NBA
    • Outdoors
    • Columnists
    • Jeff Shain
    • Cast & Blast
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • Business
    • Real Estate
    • Technology
    • Full Stock Listings
    • Market Summaries
    • Mutual Funds
    • Treasury Rates
    • New Employee/Promotion Form
    • New Business Owner Form
    • Living
    • Celebrations
    • Religion
    • Food & Drink
    • Family
    • Outdoors
    • Holidays
    • Columnists
    • Lowcountry Gardening
    • Made With Love
    • Faith in Action
    • Entertainment
    • Arts & Culture
    • Local Events
    • Holidays & Seasonal
    • Horoscopes
    • Comics
    • Puzzles & Games
    • Columnists
    • Mindy Lucas
    • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Other Views
    • Readers Opinion
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Submit a Letter
    • National Voices
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Columnists
    • David Lauderdale
    • Liz Farrell
  • Obituaries

    • Classifieds
    • Legal Notices
  • Special Sections
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Cars
  • Homes
  • Place An Ad
  • Mobile & Apps

Local

Victims testify on first day of rape, kidnapping trial

By PATRICK DONOHUE

pdonohue@beaufortgazette.com

843-986-5531

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 25, 2009 12:00 AM

BEAUFORT -- As he pulled into a parking lot near Beaufort High School almost three years ago, a Tennessee man thought he and his wife were moments from safety, the man recalled Tuesday in a Beaufort County courtroom.

The couple had been abducted by two men at gun- and knifepoint from the BB&T parking lot in downtown Beaufort and robbed of more than $900 in cash they were forced to withdraw from an ATM on Lady's Island. The man said he started to feel better about their chances of surviving when the men ordered the couple out of their silver Lexus sedan near the school's football stadium.

"I thought they were going to take the car and drive off," he said. "That's not what happened."

The man's testimony was part of the state's case against Alphonso Howard, a 36-year-old St. Helena man on trial on rape, kidnapping and car-jacking charges. He faces up to 150 years in jail if convicted of all charges.

SIGN UP

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The Island Packet

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

Investigators say Howard and Lorenzo Hicks, 25, kidnapped and robbed the couple before taking them to a wooded area near Beaufort High School, where police say Howard sexually assaulted the woman after blindfolding her husband and binding his hands with his own belt.

Police say the man escaped and ran to a nearby home, where he called 911.

Howard and Hicks were arrested that night and have since awaited trial at the Beaufort County Detention Center.

"Simple, innocent choices made that day -- where to go to eat, how long to stay at the restaurant -- put them at the wrong place at the wrong time," deputy solicitor Angela McCall-Tanner said of the victims in her opening statement.

During his opening statement, Howard's court-appointed lawyer, Jim Brown, urged the jury not to rely on the state's "contaminated and manipulated" DNA evidence and sought to discredit Howard's co-defendant, Lorenzo Hicks, who agreed Monday to plead guilty to car-jacking, kidnapping and armed robbery in exchange for testifying against Howard. Brown called Hicks "severally mentally ill" and "borderline mentally retarded."

The prosecution introduced more than 25 pieces of evidence Tuesday and called eight witnesses to the stand, including the woman Howard is accused of sexually assaulting. She tearfully and painstakingly recalled the events of that night for the jury.

Brown, in his cross examination, centered on the couple's inability to positively identify Howard as their assailant. The couple claimed they were ordered not to look at the men during the attack, and the darkness further obscured their faces.

McCall-Tanner said she intends to call more than 10 witnesses to the stand today -- including Lorenzo Hicks -- to round out the state's case.

  Comments  

Videos

Missing 22-year-old man found dead behind the Bluffton Target. Here’s what we know

This Jasper County fishing pier is a Lowcountry favorite — and it has Civil War roots

View More Video

Trending Stories

It’s festival season, y’all! 11 festivals around Hilton Head and Bluffton you can’t miss

February 22, 2019 04:02 PM

$19 million of cocaine found in pineapple shipment at Savannah seaport, officials say

February 23, 2019 12:20 PM

Wake up in Sea Pines before it’s too late

February 22, 2019 08:25 AM

Bluffton ‘Dark Web’ drug kingpin, who used Chinese narcotics and bitcoins, gets 14 years

February 22, 2019 01:14 PM

Beaufort Co football coach back at work 2 days after allegedly assaulting a student

February 22, 2019 02:22 PM

Read Next

Death Notices

Janet Sayers

Janet F. Sayers, widow of Paul Sayers, of Beaufort, died Friday at her residence.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The Island Packet

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE LOCAL

Death Notices

Calvin Sharpe

February 23, 2019 03:44 PM
$19 million of cocaine found in pineapple shipment at Savannah seaport, officials say

Crime & Public Safety

$19 million of cocaine found in pineapple shipment at Savannah seaport, officials say

February 23, 2019 12:20 PM
Man convicted in Lowcountry woman’s 2013 murder charged with killing SC prison inmate, report says

Crime & Public Safety

Man convicted in Lowcountry woman’s 2013 murder charged with killing SC prison inmate, report says

February 23, 2019 10:10 AM
No injuries reported after plane crashes at Ridgeland Airport, officials say

Local

No injuries reported after plane crashes at Ridgeland Airport, officials say

February 23, 2019 08:52 AM
Bluffton’s town manager among 3 finalists for county administrator position

Politics & Government

Bluffton’s town manager among 3 finalists for county administrator position

February 22, 2019 08:08 PM

Death Notices

Charlotte Tullock

February 22, 2019 05:44 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Hilton Head Island Packet App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Photo Store
  • Archives
Advertising
  • Information
  • Place a Classified
  • Local Deals
  • Special Sections
  • Place an Obituary
  • Today's Circulars
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story