‘A savage act’: Jasper County man found guilty in 2018 ax murder of girlfriend
William Outler Jr. was sentenced to 30 years in prison Friday for the 2018 murder of his girlfriend, 39-year-old Chantis Renee Green.
The killing occurred in the early morning hours of Aug. 7, 2018, in the backyard of the Yemassee home where the couple lived with Green’s three children and the grandmother of two of the children.
Green was struck in the head three times with an ax — twice with the blunt side and once with the sharp side, according to a press release from the 14th Judicial Circuit.
“This is a just outcome for a savage act,” 14th Circuit Assistant Solicitor Hunter Swanson, who prosecuted the case, said in the release. “Mr. Outler didn’t hide the fact that he killed Renee Green, he wasn’t entirely truthful in his version of events.”
Outler, 59, rode his bicycle to the Point South Area around 3 a.m. that morning and told two Jasper County Sheriff’s Office deputies that he had killed his girlfriend during an argument over money 45 minutes earlier.
Outler claimed that Green picked up the ax and tried to hit him with it before he grabbed it from her and struck her three times in the head. He then told officers that he had left the house “without tending to Green or calling 911.”
Swanson, who leads the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office Special Victims Unit, called nine witnesses over two days of testimony.
“There is no evidence of heat of passion,” Swanson said in the release. “Four people inside didn’t hear any argument. In fact, they didn’t even wake up until officers came and shined flashlights through the windows an hour after the murder.”
A jury of seven men and five women found Outler guilty of murder after about 90 minutes of deliberation Wednesday, instead of concluding that he acted in self-defense or committed voluntary manslaughter.
Outler had recently moved from Miami to live with Green and her family members. His criminal history includes convictions for aggravated assault, inflicting property damage and sale of marijuana, according to the release.
Judge Carmen T. Mullen handed down the sentence.