Edward Snowden,

Charleston, South Carolina
October 21, 2000

Agencies: South Carolina Law Enforcement Division SLED | North Charleston Police Department South Carolina

Cause of death: Shooting

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Last updated: almost 6 years ago

Overview

Three men face new charges in an October 2000 parking lot brawl that ultimately led to police killing a man trying to flee his attackers.

Two North Charleston police officers shot Edward Snowden four times when they responded a 911 call about a fight at a video store. They found Snowden inside pointing a gun at people.

Now Christopher Schmidt, 27, and brothers Jesi Jackson, 24, and Jimi Jackson, 30, have been indicted on charges of aggravated assault and affray - an obscure criminal charge derived from English common law - their lawyers said Monday. No trial date has been set.

The defendants' first trial on charges of second-degree lynching ended with a hung jury in March 2002. After the trial, some jurors said they could not reach a verdict because testimony from prosecution witnesses was inconsistent and the state's lynching law is confusing.

The Jacksons and Schmidt are accused of kicking, punching and beating Snowden with belts and chasing him into the video store. The Jackson brothers testified that they didn't beat Snowden, and that he chased them with his gun in the parking lot and fired one shot at Jimi Jackson. Schmidt did not testify.

Prosecutors initially charged the Jacksons and Schmidt with first-degree lynching. That charge was reduced to voluntary manslaughter and then to second-degree lynching - defined as mob violence of two or more people directed at another person that does not end with that person's death. In November, the state Court of Appeals said prosecutors have to show premeditation in second-degree lynching cases.

Affray is defined as a fight between mutual combatants in a public place that terrorizes the public.

Legal Action

2003 The city settled the wrongful death suit in 2003, paying the family nearly $70,000.