By Eric Connor
Staff Writer
A Taylors man this morning pleaded guilty to killing his estranged girlfriend in front of the woman's 4-year-old son. Leon Choice, 35, was accused of breaking into the home of his girlfriend, 27-year-old Angela Workman, in April 2006 and shooting her.
Choice pleaded to murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
He was sentenced to 30 years on the murder charge and five years on the gun charge, with the sentences running concurrently,
Before the jury heard the case Tuesday, lawyers argued over whether a confession that Choice gave to Fountain Inn police following his arrest should be admitted.
In a taped conversation, Choice is recorded telling police that he “blacked out” the morning Workman was killed after coming home from her third-shift job.
“I don't know what happened,” Choice said in the recording. “Something just came over me.”
Choice's defense attorney, Tom Hoskinson, argued that Choice's comments to law enforcement officers shouldn't be heard by the jury because Choice had asked for a lawyer after his arrest.
After Choice was read his rights to stay silent and after he requested a lawyer's representation, police provided Choice with a cigarette and recorded remarks he made outside the Fountain Inn jailhouse, according to testimony.
Police Chief Keith Morton testified that Choice voluntarily began talking, even after an officer had reminded him that he had asked for a lawyer.
Choice took the stand and testified that he had felt threatened by police.
Circuit Judge Edward Welmaker ruled that the jury will be allowed to hear portions of the statement Choice made outside the jailhouse.
Assistant Solicitor Cheryl Aaron told the jury that prosecutors would be able to put together pieces of a puzzle to prove that Choice broke into Workman's home and shot her.
Police found Workman dead inside her Queen Street home, where a rock had been thrown through a front porch window and the door of the bedroom where she lay dead on the floor was kicked in, former Fountain Inn police officer Phillip Brown testified.
Greenville County Sheriff's deputies arrested Choice later in the day at his mother's home in Taylors, according to testimony.
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