A Rowesville man was sentenced to prison after he pleaded guilty to the fatal October 2008 shooting of a teenager during a deer hunt.

Dennis Dwight Hall, 53, of 154 Majer Road, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in connection with a shooting during a deer hunt in a corn field about two miles south of Rowesville.

“One of my concerns was his actions after the shooting,” said First Circuit Deputy Solicitor Thomas Scott. “He never came forward. But for the good work of the investigators, he wouldn’t have been found.”

Circuit Court Judge Ed Dickson sentenced Hall to four years in prison on Monday. The maximum sentence for involuntary manslaughter is five years.

On Oct. 2, 2008, 16-year-old Joshua Gainey died after he was struck by a single pellet from a shotgun blast.

An avid hunter who enjoyed go-cart racing, he was laid to rest following a memorial service at Branchville High School. BHS cheerleaders placed a memorial at the football field before the game the day after Gainey was killed.

Three men in Gainey’s party told investigators that around 7 p.m. that evening they were quitting the field for the day.

The men said that as they walked along a wooded area lining the field, Gainey was walking in front. As the line of four men rounded a bend in the wood line, a shot rang out.

Scott said the estimated distance between the spot where the shot was fired and Gainey was about 100 yards.

He said the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Natural Resources and the State Law Enforcement Division are to be commended for developing a suspect.

“Obviously, processing a 75-acre cornfield at 7 o’clock in the evening is a pretty daunting task,” he said. “They found a spent shotgun shell and, with a bloodhound, tracked back to the defendant’s residence.”

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

You must be logged in to comment.