Beaufort Co. Solicitor calls on SC to fix child abuse loophole, for victims like Cristina
Last year’s trial for a case of deadly child abuse in Colleton County revealed an apparent gap in South Carolina’s homicide law. Now, 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone is backing a bill to fix it.
Cristina Pangalangan was 13 when she died of a heat stroke in the backseat of her mother’s Volkswagen in August 2019. The girl, whose cerebral palsy rendered her non-verbal and mostly immobile, was locked in the hot car for nearly six hours while her mother and mother’s boyfriend continued a multi-day meth bender — often within arm’s reach of the vehicle as they stood in the front yard of the Ruffin, S.C. home.
At their trial in September, 53-year-old Rita Pangalangan and 45-year-old Larry Eugene King were found guilty of murder, both receiving 30-plus year prison sentences.
But a peculiarity in state law meant the couple couldn’t be charged with homicide by child abuse — a much simpler offense to prove to a jury. Under state statute, that felony charge can only be applied when the victim is younger than 11 years old.
A new bill in the S.C. state legislature aims to raise that age to 18, encompassing all cases where minors are killed as a result of child abuse. Stone has thrown his support behind the proposed amendment, which was introduced by State Sen. Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee, ahead of the Jan. 9 session start date for lawmakers in Columbia.
“This was a horrible situation, and it was very clear to us from the very beginning that this was child abuse,” Stone said of Cristina Pangalangan’s death. “The statute just didn’t fit — and it needs to.”
Because Cristina was more than 10 years old, Stone said, prosecutors were forced to try her caretakers for murder, a more complicated charge that requires proof of the intention to kill.
The jury returned a guilty verdict at that trial — but in other cases, the law could pressure prosecutors to settle for lesser charges, such as involuntary manslaughter, or could prevent child abusers from being indicted altogether, according to Stone.
The solicitor underscored a paradox made possible through the current legislation: that someone between the ages of 11 and 17 could be considered a child if they were the perpetrator of a crime, but not if they were the victim of fatal child abuse.
“This is a clear hole in our statute,” Stone told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. “This is something that needs to be fixed.”
Attending a meeting with 15 other solicitors after the Pangalangan trial, Stone mentioned the statute’s shortcomings and the legal roadblock it had presented. Two other solicitors chimed in, saying they were in the same predicament with their own pending cases. “This is not an anomaly,” Stone said.
Stone acknowledged that the minimum sentence for homicide by child abuse, 20 years, was less than the 30-year minimum for murder, but he emphasized that both crimes have a maximum of life in prison. For especially egregious cases, he said, judges can institute longer sentences no matter the minimum.
“As long as we’ve got that high end in [the homicide by child abuse sentencing], and we leave it to the discretion of the judge ... and we have the case that justifies it, then I’m comfortable with that,” Stone said.
The bill was read to the Senate for the first time on Jan. 9 and is currently pending approval from the Judiciary Committee. Two near-identical bills filed in the House have also been referred to committee.
State Sen. Thomas Alexander and Rep. Tommy Pope, R-York, who helped sponsor each of the bills, did not respond to emailed requests for comment.
This story was originally published January 18, 2024 at 11:51 AM.
