Posted on 06/02/2026 10:01:47 AM PDT by V_TWIN
A store owner in South Carolina who spent three years in jail before his trial was acquitted of a murder charge after shooting and killing an armed teen outside the store in 2023.
A jury in Richland County found Rick Chow not guilty Monday in the shooting death of 14-year-old Cyrus Cormack-Belton.
On May 28, 2023, Chow and his son, Andy Chow, pursued Cormack-Belton out of their Columbia, South Carolina, convenience store after suspecting him of shoplifting.
The father and son duo chased the teen about 100 yards before Chow shot him in the back with a .45-caliber Glock handgun, killing Cormack-Belton, according to the Post and Courier.
Cormack-Belton was carrying a semiautomatic pistol at the time, and Chow's defense contended that he aimed the gun at Andy Chow, which caused the elder Chow to fire the shot in self-defense. While the state acknowledged that the teen had a gun, they said it fell onto the street and posed no danger to the Chows.
Chow was charged with murder the day after the shooting, and subsequently held without bond for just over three years leading up to the trial.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The 6A guarantees the right to a speedy trial. Did this guy waive that right for some reason?
no bail is reserved for conservatives and good citizens. All maniacs with 100+ arrests get instantly released back onto the streets to continue their carnage.
Local jurys have far more intelligence than the rest of the legal system. Well done jury!
You are wrong. Look up 471 US 1 - Garner v. Tennessee. The perp had a firearm and had committed a felony, and was a threat to commit more felonies.
In that situation, the cops would have a legal right to shoot the perp of a fleeing armed criminal. However, a cop could not shoot if the perp was unarmed.
Interestingly, a private citizen has broader authority to use lethal force than even the cops.
HUGE legal no-no in USA self-defense law!
If the store owner had been a white Conservative, he would now be doing hard time in a maximum security state prison.
Pick, pick, pick, V_TWIN! These are small details that don't matter. What matters with this verdict is the open display of systemic racism! Doncha see? (/sarc)
We need to have a law that any one charged or indicted for a crime most have a trial with 90 days or they are to be set free. Judges and lawyers are delaying speedy trials so that they can appear to be fair. An innocent man sat in a jail cell for 36 months for god’s sake. IMHO.
Probably refused to pay bail.
Either out of principle or inability to pay whatever amount was set.
What does South Carolina v. Someone Else state?
By the way...
Columbia, South Carolina is 55% non-white.
Impossible to know what your jury is going to look (or vote) like.
The prosecutor needs to be imprisoned for not less than three years.
The Chows would have no way of knowing that a perp who already pulled one gun on them didn't have another one.
Try it in this POS state and see what happens to you.
It doesn’t matter, he did more than a 3 year prison sentence and committed no crime.
That is a pretty big flaw in a system and needs to be fixed.
He did no crime, but did the time.
Holding someone for three years without trial seems wrong.
Shooting someone in the back and calling it self-defense seems wrong.
Where are the quick trials? This “permanent holding cell without trial” approach is not constitutional.
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We have a very corrupt & expensive “law system” in our country. The prosecutor wants a plea bargain and will threaten draconian sentences if the case goes to trial.
Too bad people seem to like the status quo, this case should’ve been over in about a week.
😁👍
Probably refused to pay bail.
Three years in jail before trial is an abomination.
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