Clemson, SC: Man found guilty of wife’s death

By Greg Oliver (Contact / Staff Bio)
January 20, 2010 - 10:23 p.m. EST

Photo
Click on photo to enlarge

FOR THE JOURNAL
Clifford Austin Wylie
A Pickens County jury late Wednesday found Clifford Austin Wylie guilty in the shooting death of his wife, Melissa, last February at their Maple Boulevard residence.

The state rested its case around noon after Assistant Solicitor Judy Munson called the eighth and final witness of the morning. After the jury was sent out of the room, Pickens County Chief Public Defender John DeJong requested that Judge Edward Welmaker issue a direct verdict. But Welmaker denied the motion.

After recessing for lunch, DeJong said that Wylie, who had been contemplating taking the stand in his own defense, decided against doing so. Following closing arguments by Munson and DeJong, and instructions by Welmaker to the jury, deliberations began around 3:30 p.m.

Following jury selection Monday, testimony by state witnesses, which included a number of law enforcement officers from the city of Clemson and Pickens County, began Tuesday.

Jay Hogue, a Clemson police road patrol officer who was the first to arrive at the Wylie household Feb. 13, 2009, told the jury that Wylie admitted shooting Melissa.

Hogue told jurors he initially checked the door handle on the front door of the residence when Wylie, then 52, opened the door. It was at that time that Hogue discovered the body of 50-year-old Melissa, lying just inside the door in a pool of blood, her legs blocking the doorway.

While observing the body, Hogue said that Clifford Wylie asked if someone had called 911, and Hogue replied that he was the emergency respondent.

“I asked him who was the shooter and he (Wylie) said ‘I am,’” testified Hogue.

Hogue said he then ordered Wylie to the floor, to which Wylie replied he had “a bad back.” The officer and several other officers assisted Wylie to the floor and subsequently handcuffed him.

J.T. Albrecht, a sergeant with the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office, told jurors that, after obtaining a search warrant for the residence, they discovered an unlocked safe. Inside the safe was a gun box containing the .357 magnum inside a holster.

“The gun was loaded, with one bullet fired,” Sgt. Albrecht said.

A major focus of the case Wednesday centered on the impact that Melissa Wylie’s violent death continues to have on son Pierson Wylie, who was 8 years old at the time of the shooting.

Hope Threadgill, a professional counselor and supervisor with 26 years experience who is licensed in South Carolina, said Pierson Wylie is experiencing chronic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“He heard his parents fighting, he heard his mother calling police on the phone,” Threadgill said.

DeJong said there was “no malice aforethought” committed by Wylie, adding that his client requested police to call 911, never attempted to flee from his home and that the police report contained “inconsistencies.” He added that, in his opinion, the lack of malice aforethought should also eliminate the unlawful conduct in front of a child and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime — the latter since no weapon was found in his possession.

But Munson told Judge Edward Welmaker there was enough strong evidence of malice aforethought to submit to a jury.

“The victim felt she was being threatened and was reported to be screaming in the background and saying it was her husband,” Munson said.

greg@dailyjm.com | (864) 882-2375