A man from South Carolina was sentenced to 40 years in jail for killing a woman after shooting at a police officer four times.
According to the Ninth Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office, David Beaufort was sentenced after a jury convicted him of murder, attempted murder, and weapons possession. The victim was not named in the press statement issued Monday, Nov. 10.
Prosecutors claimed that on the morning of December 16, 2021, Beaufort and the victim made a video of themselves having consensual intercourse in North Charleston, South Carolina. Minutes after the recording finished, the woman contacted 911 and informed the dispatcher that she suspected Beaufort had overdosed.
Prosecutors say the call ended when Beaufort asked the woman to call his mother.
When first responders arrived, bodycam footage saw the woman crying in horror as they entered the residence.
Beaufort then shot four times at responding police officer Jamie Sylvester, according to the solicitor’s office, after which he killed the woman.
Prosecutors claim Beaufort later informed EMTs that he had been drinking Everclear and smoked cocaine-laced marijuana.
Beaufort first attempted to plead not guilty due to insanity, but physicians determined that he possessed “mental capacity to distinguish moral and legal right from moral and legal wrong,” according to prosecutors.
Despite claiming self-defense, Beaufort was found guilty of murder after a nearly four-day trial that began on Monday, November 3.
“[Recently], we had three trials that ended in convictions, all of which involved violence against women,” Solicitor Scarlett A. Wilson said in a statement. “Brave officers like Jamie Sylvester suffer at the hands of these batterers. Fortunately, Officer Sylvester survived, but the craziness must end.
