Prosecutors said Stephen Andrew White struck Erin Lee Thomas, then shot him after a gun jam.
LAURENS, S.C. — The evidence in a courthouse parking lot shooting began with two kinds of force: a vehicle driven into a man and a gun fired after he lay injured on the pavement.
That sequence led to a 40-year sentence for Stephen Andrew White, who pleaded guilty April 20 to murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. The victim, Erin Lee Thomas, 34, of Woodruff, died after the Aug. 12, 2024, attack outside the Laurens County Courthouse. Prosecutors said the facts were strong enough that White entered his plea on the day his trial was scheduled to begin.
Deputies were called to the courthouse complex at Hillcrest Square at about 3:15 p.m. after reports of gunfire. The first public account from law enforcement said the shooting followed a court hearing and that the suspect had run his vehicle into the victim before shooting him. Courthouse staff secured the building and scene, and White was taken into custody without incident. Thomas was treated by emergency responders and flown from the area, but he later died at Greenville Memorial Hospital.
The later prosecution account added detail to the parking lot scene. White, Thomas and White’s wife had attended a child custody hearing. After the hearing, White separated from his lawyer, got into his vehicle and intentionally struck Thomas as Thomas stood by his own vehicle some distance away. The impact caused a broken leg and pelvis, leaving Thomas disabled. White then left his vehicle with a firearm and stood over Thomas. When the first round failed, he cleared the jam and fired another round into Thomas’ head.
The gun’s misfire became a key point in the state’s view of the killing. Prosecutors described it as a moment when White had to take another action before the fatal shot. Solicitor David M. Stumbo said the violence was not only personal but calculated. He said the courthouse was supposed to be a place for peaceful resolution and that White instead brought heartache there. The state also said White discarded the firearm after the shooting and surrendered as officers arrived.
White’s defense did not center on whether Thomas died by White’s actions. Public Defender Chelsea McNeill told the judge that White had been devastated after learning he was not the biological father of a child he had raised. She said “something inside him snapped.” McNeill also told the court that White was an Army veteran and that the child’s paternity discovery came after his wife had resumed a relationship with Thomas. The defense account sought to explain the emotional background, not undo the guilty plea.
Stumbo’s office answered that the paternity issue was not new when Thomas was killed. Prosecutors said White had known for roughly a year that Thomas was the child’s biological father. They also said the hearing before the shooting did not include a heated outburst that might explain an immediate loss of control. In their account, the record showed a man who left the courthouse, got into a vehicle, struck an injured victim and then took steps to fire a gun even after it jammed.
The case was handled by Stumbo, Deputy Solicitor Jared Simmons and Assistant Solicitor Mary-Madison Driggers. Investigator Christopher Oggenfuss of the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office was credited for work on the investigation. Circuit Judge Frank R. Addy Jr. sentenced White to 35 years for murder and five years for the weapon charge. Because the sentences are consecutive, White’s total punishment is 40 years in the South Carolina Department of Corrections. The judgment includes the criminal consequences for both the killing and the firearm used in it.
Thomas’ family gave the court a different kind of record: the loss behind the file. His grandmother, Kay McMahan Trotter, said Thomas saw fatherhood as the most important role in his life. She said he had helped White and White’s wife financially for the child’s benefit. Her statement described a man killed after taking part in the legal process around his daughter. “Erin deserved gratitude, not a bullet,” she said during the sentencing hearing.
The guilty plea closed the trial phase before jurors heard the case. It left the official account of the crime in the plea record, the solicitor’s statement and the court’s sentence. White remains convicted of murder and the weapon offense. Any future action would move through appeals or post-conviction review, while the 40-year prison sentence is now the controlling order in the case.
Author note: Last updated May 10, 2026.