Man sentenced for shooting death of repairman in Orangeburg
ORANGEBURG, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - A man who was set to go on trial for fatally shooting an Orangeburg repairman in 2020 was sentenced after entering a plea before the trial began, according to officials.
Jermaine Maurice Jackson was sentenced to 30 years in prison in the shooting that killed 63-year-old Michael L. Gordon.
Judge Diane Goodstein sentenced Jackson after Jackson pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter, First Circuit Deputy Solicitor Kelly LaPlant said.
The shooting happened at around 9 p.m. on July 14, 2020, as Gordon was leaving a service call for a refrigeration issue at an Orangeburg home when Jackson fired one shot into Gordon’s back, investigators said.
A coworker of Gordon had accompanied him on the service call and was at the truck when he told investigators he heard a loud pop and saw Gordon stumble out of the home and then collapse on the pavement near the car.
The coworker drove him to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead an hour later, LaPlante said.
Multiple witnesses at the scene identified Jackson as the shooter, telling investigators no arguments or confrontations took place before the shooting, LaPlante said.
Jackson was arrested later that night.
LaPlante said the victim’s blood was found on a weapon at the home where Jackson was arrested, as well as a small amount of gunshot residue found on Jackson’s hands.
Gordon’s family spoke at the sentencing hearing. Gordon’s wife of 35 years described his death as a “tremendous loss” and said that every day is harder because it is another day without him.
One of his children told the court Gordon’s middle is “Love” and said that’s what he was.
Prosecutor Bethany Miles said at sentencing that Gordon was “a husband, a father, a grandfather, who was simply going to work to do his job to provide for his family” when Jackson shot him.
The 30-year sentence was the maximum sentence for the crime, LaPlante said.
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