"I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me. I'm not an evil person," Albert Clayton Smith II said Wednesday before he was sentenced for the 2007 murder of Hattie Hunter.

The 29-year-old Smith stood before Circuit Court Judge James Williams to offer a plea of guilty in the heinous stabbing death of Hunter, 77, widow of former S.C. State Athletics Director Dr. Milton Hunter.

Before his decision, Williams said sentencing is for punishment or rehabilitation.

"In this particular case, I think only one of these is appropriate," Williams said. "For some reasons, Mr. Smith, I think Mrs. Hunter would like for you to see a light at the end of the tunnel. The sentence I'm going to give you gives you that hope, a faint hope."

On the charge of murder, Smith was sentenced to 40 years in prison without hope of parole. He was further sentenced to 30 years for an armed robbery charge connected to the same case.

Known in recent years as the homecoming host at S.C. State, Hunter was found dead in her Palmetto Parkway home on May 18, 2007. A friend found her body after noticing a window broken and her front door open.

"They found Mrs. Hunter lying in a bathroom," said Kelly Burbage, assistant solicitor for the First Circuit. "The autopsy revealed she had 53 stab wounds, six were post-mortem."

Within days, Smith was arrested and charged with using a butcher knife to attack the retired professor in her home. Smith is the grandson of former S.C. State President Albert Smith.

Burbage said investigators learned Hunter loaned Smith money in the past, but was planning to end that practice.

Investigators later discovered at least two checks belonging to Hunter were missing. One was cashed the day she died. Video from a local business shows Smith cashing the check while accompanied by one of his children, Burbage said.

Smith was at his Mingo Street home watching TV when he got a call informing him of Hunter's death, Burbage said.

"He learned of Hattie Hunter's death and went to bed," she said.

Officials thought Smith would plead guilty during a December hearing.

Before that hearing got underway, Smith apparently changed his mind. That led First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe to announce he was considering seeking the death penalty.

Burbage told the court that Smith was pleading guilty without any deals, negotiations or recommendations from the state.

Just three months prior to her death, "Miss Hattie," as she was known to friends, was inducted into the Thomas E. Miller Society. Individual members of the society have contributed $100,000 or more in cumulative giving to S.C. State through the university foundation.

After she died, word spread of the loss of a matriarch and one many described as a defender of the downtrodden.

Between 75 and 100 people gathered for a vigil across the street from Hunter's Palmetto Parkway home in the community known locally as Parlardale.

"The defendant took away my last living relative," Ida Rosetta White said. "My aunt was everything to me. He does not deserve to walk around. He took her away from me, from her family, her friends. This crime is unspeakable."



Defense attorney Glenn Walters said the death of Miss Hattie was a tragedy for all involved, including himself, since he knew her as well. Walters still asked the court for mercy.

"We're aware of the fact that this is a heinous crime," Walters said. "It's a terrible loss."

Smith's father, also Albert Smith, offered "sincere condolences" to Hunter's friends and family at Wednesday's hearing.

"I can't say enough that would cover any of the sorrow that you have," Smith said. "My son, he was a wonderful man. I can't ever see how we got to this point."

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

You must be logged in to comment.