Sheriff: SC inmate with 10 cellphone violations planned revenge killing

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A sheriff says an inmate serving a murder sentence in a South Carolina prison orchestrated the revenge killing of a woman from behind bars using contraband cellphones.

Laurens County Sheriff Don Reynolds said there is little doubt 27-year-old Michelle Dodge would still be alive today if federal officials allowed cellphone signals to be jammed at state prisons.

Instead, Reynolds said Dodge was kidnapped and shot in the back of the head last month.

Reynolds said 31-year-old James Peterson arranged the killing. Peterson was sentenced to 30 years in prison for murder in a 2005 killing during a drug deal in Cherokee County. He has had 10 prison violations for possessing cellphones since 2012 and was convicted in federal court of carrying on a drug ring using cellphones in 2017.

Associated Press