COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - An Orangeburg man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiring to kill a South Carolina corrections officer in a hit ordered by an inmate with a cellphone.
U.S. District Judge Joe Anderson on Wednesday handed down that maximum sentence to 30-year-old Sean Echols. Echols pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to arrange a murder-for-hire.
Capt. Robert Johnson was shot six times outside his Sumter home in 2010. He survived and authorities have said he was the first corrections officer harmed by a hit ordered from an inmate's cellphone.
Echols sentence will begin after he finishes 25 years he is serving on unrelated state charges.
He apologized to Johnson in court and the former officer said he forgave him.
