A judge has refused to grant bond to two men accused of breaking into a Charleston Highway home in February, including the man deputies say was shot by the homeowner.

“I’m not going to set bond on Mr. Aiken and Mr. Randolph. I’m going to deny bond,” Circuit Court Judge Diane Goodstein said Wednesday. “I do think the level of danger they are to the community is substantial.”

That decision from the bench came after 1st Circuit Assistant Solicitor Bryan Jeffries asked the court deny bond to the trio accused in the Feb. 20 invasion of the Charleston Highway home of 80-year-old Newman “Ted” Jackson.

Christopher Aiken, 24, of 2088 Muriel St., and Joseph Randolph, 23, of 105 Scarlett Drive, both of Orangeburg; and Lakeisha Rice, 23, of 405 West Pinckney St., Denmark, were charged with first-degree burglary a day later. Deputies say Aiken was shot after he broke into Jackson’s home.

Goodstein set bond on Rice at $25,000 surety with the stipulation that should she make bail, she’s confined to house arrest.

The story of Jackson defending his home became “water cooler” conversation around the community.

Prior to Wednesday’s hearing, Jackson talked about that night and his decision to pull the trigger, which apparently stopped the incident from going further.

“I thought I had about 20 seconds, but I had about five seconds,” Jackson said. “These things happen so fast.”

When deputies arrived on the scene, they were given conflicting reports. One individual told deputies his friend kicked in the front door to the residence and ran inside. A gunshot rang out and he was struck as his friend ran from the residence.

Another version was that the two males were drinking beer earlier and “needed to talk to the man about some money,” according to an Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office incident report.

One of the males said the trio went to the Charleston Highway residence at 2 a.m. “to get some liquor from the old man who lives there,” the report states.

That statement strikes Jackson as odd, he said, because he “ain’t had no beer in the house since 1983, 1984.”

A former Golden Glove boxer and World War II U.S. Navy veteran, Jackson said he didn’t know the two men and the woman before this incident. He has no idea why his residence was chosen for a burglary attempt.

“I don’t believe you can find a man, woman or child who can say I done them wrong,” he said. “And I can say that sincerely.”

One version of the incident told to deputies has both men going up to the residence. Another has only one individual approaching the house.

Asked if he saw more than one person present inside his house, Jackson said he thought so but he wasn’t sure.

“It sounded like a herd of elephants going through the house” after he fired, Jackson said.

But it was that moment of decision Jackson was questioned about, the moment he decided to fire. A man brandishing a weapon that looked like an automatic kicked open his bedroom door moments after he’d retrieved one of several handguns he owns.

“When he saw my gun, he said, ’Whoa!’, like that,” Jackson said. “He was going at 90 mph to get out of there.”

It was decision time.

“I thought for a second, ’What if he gets clear and then turns around and shoots up my house with that submachine,” Jackson said. “Oh, hell no. ’Boop!’ I shot.”

Investigators later found on Jackson’s living room floor a Tec-9, a weapon technically considered a semi-automatic pistol.

A martial arts and gun enthusiast, Jackson admits he only had one round loaded in his gun that night. He now keeps the weapon fully loaded.

“That fellow would have died if I’d of had more shells in that gun,” he said. “That’s the only reason I didn’t shoot more.”

Aiken was later released from the Regional Medical Center after being treated for a gunshot wound to the back of his neck.

Jackson said he’s glad he was chosen that night rather than someone who might have “frozen up.”

“That makes me feel better with people walking around with a submachine gun and a big bag of bullets on the back seat of their car,” he said. “If they had gone somewhere else, somebody would’ve gotten hurt.”

Admittedly, Jackson has never been in a similar situation where someone attempted to break in on him late at night.

Some might think it traumatic to be the victim of a home invasion or to shoot a burglar. Does Jackson sleep good at night?

“It h’ain’t bothered me one bit.”

In unrelated cases:

You must be logged in to comment.