Charleston, South Carolina — A man will serve more than 40 years in jail after a Charleston County jury found him guilty of killing his husband.
Solicitor Scarlett A. Wilson revealed on Tuesday that Willie Leo Darby had been sentenced to 45 years in prison for the Nov. 12, 2021, murder of Michael Warren. After a five-day trial, he was found guilty on Friday, September 12.
North Charleston Detectives George Vantine and Charity Steinbrunner, as well as SLED firearms analyzer and Detective Jerome De Sheers of the NCPD FBI Task Force, testified before Assistant Solicitor Ashleigh Brown and Jordan Norvell.
The Defendant was the primary suspect from the beginning of the investigation, which was headed by Detective Vantine. According to the victim’s family and friends’ testimonies, the pair was married in March 2021 but split up just before the murder on November 12, 2021, according to the prosecution.
According to investigators, at approximately 3:05 p.m. on November 12, 2021, a 911 call about shooting originated from the Palmetto Grove Apartment Complex. At the moment, responding officers could not locate any witnesses.
Prosecutors say Warren’s parents discovered him dead in his apartment the following day.
After examining surveillance footage that showed Darby’s car entering the complex at 2:41 p.m. and departing a minute before the 911 call, detectives named Darby as a suspect. According to officials, phone records also identified him as being at the site and documented his activities both before and after the murder.
According to investigators, the defendant seemed to take the victim’s phone with him after the murder. Three live and two casings of.22-caliber shells were discovered close to the victim’s body. Prosecutors claim that the next day, 22-caliber bullets bearing identical headstamps were found in the defendant’s car.
According to officials, the defendant denied visiting the flat on the day of the murder and stated in an interview with detectives that he had not seen or spoken to the victim in days.
The defendant had active warrants for first-degree assault and battery and attempted strong-arm robbery at the time of the murder.
During sentence, Assistant Solicitor Brown called the murder “a heinous, personal, and violent attack” on the defendant’s spouse.
