"She loaded it, cocked it, pointed it and put 4-1/2 pounds of pressure on the trigger while he's standing there. As he's bleeding all over the yard, he's saying 'I love you' to Robette. There was crying and yelling, but this vicious, 6-foot, 285-pound man said, 'I love you.'" -- 1st Circuit Deputy Solicitor Robby Robbins.

Apparently able to picture a tragic lover's quarrel, an Orangeburg County jury Thursday handed down a guilty verdict for a Neeses woman charged with murder in the shooting death of an acquaintance's husband.

Following a three-day trial, the jury deliberated for approximately 1 hour and 25 minutes before finding Jacquelyn Mekler, 48, of 104 Rice St., Neeses, guilty of murder in conjunction with the shooting death of Phillip "Bubba'' Spires, 27, of North.

After a confirmation of the verdict, Circuit Judge Edward Cottingham sentenced Mekler. Overcome by the verdict, Mekler was given a chair to sit and listen to Cottingham's sentence.

"It is the judgment and consent of this court that you be sentenced to 30 years," Cottingham said.

Spires was shot and killed March 8, 2002, following an argument between Spires and the two women, Mekler and Spires' estranged wife, Robette.

On that date a few minutes before 9 p.m., Phillip Spires drove to Mekler's residence searching for his wife. After an argument that witnesses testified could be heard from a considerable distance, Spires is believed to have wielded a knife at the women. He then drove to his home one block away.

A few minutes later, Spires walked back to Mekler's home, where a renewed verbal altercation turned fatal for the 27-year-old.

At approximately 9:10 p.m., Spires was facing a 16-gauge shotgun Mekler had retrieved from her home.

"She ended his life, she took the law into her own hands," Robbins told the jury in his summary. "But now the law is in your hands."

Chief Public Defender Michael Culler presented a self-defense scenario of two women threatened by an enraged Spires.

"The image of Mr. Spires laying there bleeding to death in the yard has to be weighed with the trauma these two women felt," Culler said. "It could of been different. He could of gone home. He could of just left."

The jury also had the options of acquitting Mekler or finding her guilty of manslaughter. By their decision, jurors signaled they rejected any notion of self-defense and found the fatal shotgun blast that ended the altercation was carried out with malice aforethought warranting the murder verdict.

"I think it's very appropriate," Robbins said. "There's too many people not only in this county or state, but in this country, that are resolving very emotional disputes with guns. And that's what happened in this case."

While expressing his disappointment, Culler declined comment.

Prior to sentencing Mekler, Cottingham allowed Spires' parents, Allen and Dale Spires, to speak.

"I long to hear his voice and talk to him," Allen Spires said. "It cannot happen. She chose to end his life."

Robbins read a prepared statement by Spires' mother, Dale, when she became too emotional to continue.

"He was standing there in the yard crying to his wife," the statement read. "She (Mekler) took a shotgun and shot him."

Cottingham offered words of comfort to the nearly 20 members of Spires' family present in the courtroom.

"I am deeply sorry for the loss you have suffered," Cottingham said. "Hopefully, a merciful God in his sovereignty will bring some type of closure to you."

T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5516.

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