Jeffrey Brian Motts was convicted of three murders in South Carolina and was executed on May 6, 2011. In 1997 a Spartanburg County jury convicted him of the murders of his great-aunt, Etta Osteen, and his great-uncle, Clyde Camby, who died in the town of Pacolet in 1995, and of armed robbery. He received life imprisonment for each murder and 25 years for the robbery. In December 2005, while serving those sentences, he killed a fellow inmate, Charles Douglas Martin, in Greenville County. He told prison staff what he had done and confessed to investigators within hours.
Because of his earlier murder convictions, the State sought the death penalty. In 2007 a Greenville County jury convicted him of murder and recommended death. Motts then wrote to the state Supreme Court asking that his sentence be carried out and that he be allowed to give up his appeal. The courts found him competent to do so, but the Supreme Court held that it could not set aside its own statutory review of a death sentence, and it affirmed the sentence on March 21, 2011. He was executed seven weeks later. South Carolina carried out no further execution until September 2024.
Motts was born about 1975. His early life is not on record. Etta Osteen was 73 and Clyde Camby was 79 when they died in Pacolet that year. Osteen was Motts's great-aunt and Camby his great-uncle. Investigators said the motive was money.
A Spartanburg County jury tried Motts in 1997 and convicted him of the murders of both victims and of armed robbery. The court gave him life imprisonment on each murder count and 25 years on the robbery count.
By late 2005 Motts was serving his sentences at a state prison in Greenville County. Charles Douglas Martin, a fellow inmate, died there in the first week of December. Motts told staff what had happened and, within hours, confessed to investigators from the State Law Enforcement Division after waiving his Miranda rights.
By April 21, 2006, when Motts was 30, he was charged with the murder of Martin, and a Greenville County grand jury indicted him. Solicitor Bob Ariail said that the death penalty was warranted because Motts already had two murder convictions. Under South Carolina law a prior conviction for murder is a statutory aggravating circumstance.
The capital trial was held in Greenville County in 2007. Motts was represented by Christopher Scalzo and Stephen Henry. Motts did not dispute that he had killed Martin. Prosecutors built their sentencing case on the two earlier convictions, and Ariail told the jury that prison "couldn't keep this man from killing again." Before the jury retired, Motts spoke to it himself. He blamed prison officials for not keeping the two men apart and asked the jurors for sympathy.
The jury convicted him of murder and found the statutory aggravating circumstance that the murder was committed by a person with a prior conviction for murder. It recommended a sentence of death. The trial judge denied the post-trial motions and ordered the death sentence on June 4, 2008.
Counsel filed a notice of intent to appeal the day after sentencing, on June 5, 2008. Motts then wrote to the Supreme Court of South Carolina asking that his execution go forward, that he be allowed to represent himself and that he be allowed to waive his direct appeal. The court sent the matter back to the circuit court for a hearing on his competency.
Three court-appointed examiners, Dr. Richard Frierson, Dr. Amanda Salas and Dr. Michael Gassen, evaluated Motts on October 8, November 12 and December 16, 2009, and submitted a joint report dated January 5, 2010. They found that he met the standard for competence set out in the South Carolina decision Singleton v. State. They noted lifelong mental health problems and episodes of major depression, but found his depression in full remission. Neither Dr. Frierson nor Dr. Salas believed his decision came from depression or a wish to die by suicide.
The first judge assigned to the hearing retired, and Circuit Judge D. Garrison Hill took over. He heard from two of the examiners, from both trial lawyers and from Motts on April 29, 2010. Motts told the judge that he deserved the death penalty and did not want to remain incarcerated for another thirty to forty years, and that he was committed "100 percent" to dropping his appeals and had not been coerced. Henry testified that Motts's decision "was made early and never waivered." On June 8, 2010, Judge Hill found that the waiver was knowing, voluntary and intelligent.
The Supreme Court heard argument on January 5, 2011, and filed its opinion on March 21, 2011. Justice Beatty wrote the opinion, and Chief Justice Toal and Justices Pleicones, Kittredge and Hearn concurred. The court held that Motts was competent and that his waiver of a direct appeal was knowing and voluntary.
It also held that he could not waive review of the sentence itself. Section 16-3-25 of the state code requires the court to decide whether a death sentence came from passion, prejudice or another arbitrary factor, whether the evidence supports the aggravating circumstance, and whether the sentence is excessive or disproportionate to the penalty in similar cases. In reaching that result the court resolved a conflict between two earlier decisions, State v. Torrence in 1996 and State v. Passaro in 2002. Applying the statute, it found that the sentence was not the product of passion, prejudice or arbitrary factors and was not disproportionate, comparing it with State v. Lindsey and State v. Atkins. Finally, it held that neither the circuit court nor the Supreme Court must order a psychiatric evaluation shortly before an execution unless there is some sign of incompetency. The disposition was "Affirmed."
Motts was executed on Friday, May 6, 2011, at the age of 36. He was the first condemned inmate South Carolina executed that year. South Carolina did not execute anyone else for more than thirteen years. The next execution, in September 2024, followed a state Supreme Court ruling of July 31, 2024 that allowed the Department of Corrections to resume carrying out death sentences.
South Carolina law lists the circumstances that make a murder eligible for a death sentence. One is that the murder was committed by a person with a prior conviction for murder, set out in section 16-3-20(C)(a)(2) of the state code. The jury in Motts's case found that circumstance, and the Supreme Court reviews a death sentence under section 16-3-25 alongside any direct appeal.
A prisoner who gives up his appeals does so in front of the courts. The state Supreme Court issues an execution notice once the appeals are exhausted or waived, and under section 17-25-370 the sentence is carried out on the fourth Friday after the Commissioner of Corrections is notified. A prisoner who later claims he is no longer competent may seek post-conviction relief under section 17-27-20, and the court may also stay the execution under a "Singleton writ." Motts's wish to die did not end the case on its own: the courts still had to find him competent and the Supreme Court still had to review the sentence.
Guilt in the 2005 case was not contested: Motts confessed and told the judge at the 2010 hearing that he deserved the death penalty. The legal questions in the later proceedings concerned his competence to waive an appeal and the Supreme Court's duty to review the sentence. The day in 1995 on which Osteen and Camby died and the date of the 1997 trial are not on record.
1995: Etta Osteen, 73, and Clyde Camby, 79, die in Pacolet, Spartanburg County.
1997: a Spartanburg County jury convicts Motts of two murders and armed robbery; he receives two life sentences and 25 years.
December 2005: Charles Douglas Martin dies in Greenville County; Motts confesses.
April 21, 2006: Motts, 30, is indicted for murder and the State says it will seek death.
2007: a Greenville County jury convicts Motts of murder and recommends death.
June 4, 2008: the trial judge orders the death sentence.
June 5, 2008: counsel files notice of intent to appeal; Motts asks the Supreme Court to carry out his sentence.
October to December 2009: three court-appointed examiners evaluate Motts.
January 5, 2010: the examiners report that he is competent.
April 29 and June 8, 2010: Judge D. Garrison Hill holds a hearing and finds the waiver knowing, voluntary and intelligent.
January 5, 2011: argument before the Supreme Court of South Carolina.
March 21, 2011: the Supreme Court affirms the death sentence.
May 6, 2011: Motts is executed.
September 20, 2024: South Carolina carries out its next execution, after more than thirteen years.