A Berkeley County man convicted in the brutal killing of his former girlfriend may have a new chance to avoid the death penalty. John Weik, 47, of Moncks Corner is currently sitting on death row at Lieber Correctional Institution for shooting the mother of his child, Susan Hutto Krasae, 27, in 1998.
Shortly after the murder, Weik confessed to law enforcement in Dorchester County to killing his former girlfriend at her Knightsville home following an argument over their young son.
In his statement to officers, Weik told them that he heard voices in his head just before the shooting, and felt as if some physical force kept him from leaving the victim’s home, and as he shot the his girlfriend, he watched it “from above and the side” as if his actions were being played out “on a monitor.”
During Weik’s murder trial, he reportedly sat quietly in the courtroom, chanting passages from the Bible “so the voices [in his head] would not bother him.”
According to the published opinions of the S.C. Supreme Court judges, during the sentencing phase, Weik’s defense attorney relied on three mental health experts, who testified that their client suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, including auditory and visual hallucinations.
“The defense, however, failed to present available evidence concerning Weik’s chaotic upbringing and dysfunctional family,” explained Justice John Kittredge. “It is the absence of the social history mitigation evidence that compels us, under controlling United States Supreme Court precedents, to grant Weik a new sentencing hearing.”
Court documents state that during pre-trial interviews conducted with Weik’s relatives, coworkers and other acquaintances revealed that Weik’s childhood was filled with emotional and physical abuse at the hands of his psychotic father.
“Despite the wealth of social mitigating information defense investigators discovered about Weik’s troubled background, during the penalty phase of the trial, Weik’s defense attorney called only one witness,” stated Kittredge.
The S.C. Supreme Court Justices have granted a writ of certiorari to review the denial of Weik’s application for capital post-conviction relief (PCR) in light of the additional information regarding Weik’s upbringing.
At this time, it’s unclear when Weik’s new sentence hearing will take place.
To read the entire opinion by the S.C Supreme Court Justices, click here.
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