Michael Torrence

Background

Michael Torrence was executed by lethal injection in South Carolina on September 6, 1996.

Donna Webb Torrence was a 19-years-old stripper at a club just outside the city of Columbia, South Carolina. While stripping, she met two customers at the club: Charles Bush, 31, and Dennis Lollis, 41. Both were mill engineers staying in the Columbia area on business. Bush and Lollis visited the strip club a number of times and struck up a relationship with Torrence, and Torrence knew the location of the motel where the two men were staying.

Investigators and prosecutors later considered Michael Torrence the leader of three.

Michael Torrence was 25 years old at the time of the murders. He had a long criminal history. On one occasion, he pointed a sawed-off shotgun at two policemen in Myrtle Beach and pulled the trigger; the gun was unloaded, though whether Torrence knew that at the time is unclear. On another occasion, he set off a tear gas grenade inside a crowded shopping mall in Charlotte, North Carolina, though the purpose was unclear.

He was arrested for a series of burglaries and spent five years in a North Carolina prison. He was released on January 20, 1987, and killed his three victims in the next two months, becoming in fact a serial killer.

The offence

Michael Torrence was executed for killing Dennis Lollis and Charles Bush in the Midlands in a robbery in 1987, and for killing Cynthia Williams, a Charleston prostitute, about a month later.

Lexington County double murders (robbery motive)

On February 11, 1987, Donna Webb Torrence was at a motel room in Lexington County, across the river from Columbia, South Carolina, when she said she needed a ride home. Bush drove her home and was invited inside. The two brothers attacked him from ambush, beat him with a blunt object, and choked him to death with a dog collar.

The men took the key from Bush’s body and went to the motel where Lollis was asleep. Michael Torrence stabbed Lollis 19 times.

The motive for the double murder was robbery. Bush’s body was buried near the Torrence home, and Lollis’s body was left in the bloody motel room to be discovered the next day.

Charleston murder

In Charleston County, on March 28, Michael Torrence killed a 20-years-old prostitute named Cynthia Williams. He had become involved with her and killed her by shooting her in the chest with a shotgun after some sort of an argument.

He dumped the body beside an expressway, where it was discovered when two motorists stopped to change drivers.

Michael Torrence was convicted of the three murders.

Investigation

The Torrence brothers were arrested in connection to the Williams murder on April 6. During interrogation, the brothers disclosed their involvement in the Lexington County double murders.

Arrest

Trial

Plea agreement and other convictions

Prosecutors in Lexington County entered into a plea agreement with Donna Torrence. She was allowed to plead guilty of two counts of accessory after the fact and criminal conspiracy in return for her testimony against her husband and her brother-in-law.

Thomas Torrence was found guilty of two counts of murder and armed robbery and several other crimes in connection with the Lexington County murders. He was also found to be an accessory after the fact in the Charleston murder. Thomas Torrence was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Sentencing phase statement

At the sentencing phase of his trial, Michael Torrence told the jury that:

"he didn't regret doing it and would do it again if he got a chance... I don't see anything wrong with what I did."

Appeals

A Federal appeals court denied an appeal by a court-appointed lawyer, Jay Elliott. Jay Elliott said Michael Torrence was borderline retarded.

Sentencing

Donna Torrence was given a prison sentence of 25 years as a result of her plea bargain.

Outcome

Michael Torrence was executed at Columbia on September 6, 1996.

Aftermath

A statement about the execution was made by the president of an anti-capital punishment group. Commenting on the small number of protesters at Torrence’s execution, the president said:

"He tried very hard not to have any redeeming qualities."

During the trials, a relative of the Torrence brothers told a newspaper that the case had been the result of the trauma caused by the parents’ divorce.