SOLICITOR GOWDY RECEIVES NATIONAL RECOGNITION FOR CAPITAL CASE WORK

Seventh Judicial Circuit Solicitor Trey Gowdy is earning national recognition for his work on capital cases.

The veteran prosecutor of Spartanburg and Cherokee counties will be recognized Friday morning in San Francisco at the 29th Annual Summer Conference of the Association of Government Attorneys in Capital Litigation. The award cites outstanding advocacy on the challenging caseload.

Gowdy has prosecuted six death penalty cases over the past 8 years in three different counties. Each case ended with a death verdict. The cases were affirmed on direct appeal.

“I will spend my time traveling to and from this conference reflecting on the lives of the victims I was honored to seek justice for,” Gowdy said. “I don’t think of myself as seeking the death penalty. I see it as asking juries to weigh and balance the circumstances of the crime, the character of the defendant and the impact of these crimes on the community. Jurors must then render a verdict that reflects the collective conscience of the community.”

Gowdy’s most recent capital case success occurred in November when a Lexington County jury sentenced Norman Starnes to death for the brutal slayings of two men. Gowdy and a team of assistants lived in Lexington County hotel rooms for nearly a month while they staffed the case.

“It doesn’t surprise me that Solicitor Gowdy has been chosen to receive this award,” said Bob Ariail, solicitor of the 13th Judicial Circuit. “He is a hard nosed prosecutor who is committed to vigorous law enforcement on behalf of the people he serves.”

Capital cases traditionally last about two weeks. The proceedings include guilt and sentencing phases. The cases also involve hundreds of hours of preparation work/font>

Faith Goodwin of Spartanburg knows the challenges of a death penalty well. Her daughter-in-law, Rhonda Ward, was murdered in a 2003 homicide. The case was resolved the next year with a death sentence for the defendant, Fredrick A. Evins.

“I truly don’t wish for anyone to have to go through what I did,” Goodwin said. “I thank God that I had Mr. Gowdy there to see this process through.”