July 28, 2009

WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP) -- Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty against two men charged with killing a South Carolina deputy as he investigated a burglary call.

Solicitor Duffie Stone announced Monday that 19-year-old Jacoby Fields and 20-year-old Travis Harris deserve to be executed if they are convicted because they killed a law officer and were committing another felony. They are each charged with murder and four counts of first-degree burglary.

Authorities say 39-year-old Colleton County sheriff's deputy Dennis Compton was shot in the stomach early last Aug. 6 as he checked a burglary alarm near Smoaks.

Fields told the Post and Courier of Charleston last year that he was in the wrong place, didn't pull the trigger and was sorry the deputy was killed. Harris had no prior criminal record.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)