Zachariah Chaplin was 31 when he was shot after an altercation at a bar in West Columbia, South Carolina. The shooting happened on September 28, 2008; Chaplin suffered gunshot wounds to his arm and a second wound just below his right ear that caused a severe spinal cord injury. He died on November 12, 2008, of complications related to paralysis from those injuries.

Torrence, left the bar, retrieved a firearm from his vehicle, then returned and fired two shots as Chaplin moved toward him. Torrence was arrested, tried in Lexington County, and during a four-day trial said he was attempting a citizen’s arrest and fired in self-defense. A jury convicted him of voluntary manslaughter and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, and a judge sentenced him to 25 years in prison in June 2011.