In a recent court ruling in Columbia, South Carolina, a man was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a mail carrier.
The incident occurred when the mail carrier, 64-year-old Irene Pressley, left a note in the man’s mailbox instead of delivering a package of marijuana to his home.
The convicted individual, Trevor Raekwon Seward, aged 25, was found guilty of murder, as well as other crimes related to the shooting that took place in September 2019 in rural Williamsburg County.
Upon discovering the note in his mailbox, Seward confronted Pressley, demanding the package that he was expecting. Refusing to comply, Pressley, who was a United States Postal Service employee, became the target of Seward’s violent actions. Armed with a semi-automatic rifle, Seward ambushed Pressley as she traveled down a street in Andrews, firing approximately 20 shots into the back of her mail truck.
Pressley sustained multiple gunshot wounds from the attack. Afterward, Seward drove the mail truck into a ditch located on an access road at a hunting club. He proceeded to thoroughly search the vehicle, in hopes of locating the package of marijuana and any other valuable items Pressley’s body was left behind in the truck before Seward fled the scene.
Authorities later discovered the marijuana package on the street where Pressley was killed, as confirmed by court records. During the sentencing hearing, Pressley’s sister, Elisha Hubbard, held Seward responsible for their 97-year-old father’s suffering, stating that he gave up on life after losing his daughter.
Seward attentively listened to the family’s remarks during the hearing and briefly stood when asked if he wanted to speak. Ultimately, he declined, expressing no desire to add further confusion to the proceedings.
Seward’s co-defendant, Jerome Terrell Davis, aged 31, who aided in the search for the mail carrier, received a 25-year prison sentence. Davis pleaded guilty to charges of robbery, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and distribute marijuana, according to prosecutors.
It is worth noting that the marijuana package involved in this incident held minimal value. Even at the time of the murder, when marijuana was illegal nationwide, its estimated worth in Colorado, where it was legal, was approximately $1,600, based on state revenue data.
Earlier data from the National Drug Intelligence Center suggests that the package’s value would not have exceeded $2,600, even during a period when marijuana was illegal across the country.
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