December 4, 2008

BARNWELL, S.C---A jury in Barnwell has returned a guilty verdict in the murder trial of William Owens of Williston.

Judge Jack Early immediately sentenced Owens to a life sentence without the possibility of parole on murder and firearms counts.

The jury received the case late Thursday morning and deliberated less than two hours before reaching the verdict.

The Reverend Phillip McCreary of Springfield was murdered in the summer of 2007. He was killed at a popular fishing spot along the Edisto River.

During the prosecution evidence, a SLED investigator testified about the
bullet wound evidence he found there.

"I miss my husband so much," says Annie McCreary, Phillip's widow. "I want my husband. I can't believe he's not here."

Annie sat in the courtroom in Barnwell on Thursday, as a killer made his emotion-less walk towards his fate. She looked right into the face of William Owens. That's the face of the man who took her husband; the face of a cold-blooded killer.

"It's unthinkable. It's been devastating. It's been life shattering," says Annie. "Just to think that someone could kill my husband for no reason."

Her husband was fishing along the banks of Edisto River in July of 2007, when Owens shot him in the back of the head, killing him. On Thursday, all 12 on the jury agreed by a show of hands, Owens is the man who killed Annie's love.

"I said hallelujah God. I just think God so much for the guilty verdict," says Annie.

Annie showed the jury pictures of her husband when he was alive and vibrant, as she addressed the court about her sadness. Meanwhile, the family sat in the courthouse and cried.

"My grandchild won't know his pop-pop," says Annie. "My children, my daughter, my son, they've had to live a life that wasn't asked for."

It's a life they didn't ask for. It's a life they'll live now, with a very heavy heart. "Now I really know, my husband is not coming back home," says Annie.