A South Carolina judge sentenced Stephen Andrew White to 40 years in prison.
GREENWOOD, S.C. — A family court dispute ended with one father dead, another sent to prison and a child left at the center of a killing outside the Laurens County Courthouse.
Stephen Andrew White, 34, pleaded guilty April 20 to murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in the death of 34-year-old Erin Lee Thomas. Judge Frank R. Addy Jr. sentenced him to 40 years in the South Carolina Department of Corrections. The sentence included 35 years for murder and five years for the weapon charge, ordered to run consecutively.
Thomas’ name carried the victim impact portion of the hearing. His grandmother, Kay McMahan Trotter, told the court that he loved being a father and that the role had become central to his life. She said Thomas helped White and White’s wife financially so that his daughter could have a good home. Her words framed the case as more than a violent end to a custody hearing. “Erin deserved gratitude, not a bullet,” Trotter said, a short line that marked the grief in the courtroom.
The child was also central to the defense account. Public Defender Chelsea McNeill told the judge that White had learned the girl he had been raising was not his biological daughter. She said White’s wife had an affair with Thomas before the marriage, disclosed that earlier relationship and was forgiven. McNeill said White later learned the relationship had resumed and that Thomas was the child’s father. She said White “snapped and took a life,” while asking the court to consider the emotional blow behind the crime.
Prosecutors did not dispute that paternity was part of the family conflict, but they rejected the idea that the killing was a sudden reaction to fresh news. They told the court White learned about the child’s paternity roughly a year before the courthouse attack. They also emphasized that nothing unusual happened during the hearing itself, such as a heated argument. After court ended, White, his wife and Thomas went separate ways before the violence began outside. That timeline became a key difference between the defense’s emotional account and the state’s proof of intent.
The attack unfolded in the parking lot after the Aug. 12, 2024, hearing at the Laurens County Courthouse. Prosecutors said White had separated from his attorney, entered his vehicle and intentionally struck Thomas, who was standing beside his own vehicle some distance away. The crash left Thomas unable to escape, with injuries that included a broken leg and pelvis. White then got out with a firearm, stood over him and tried to shoot. The first round jammed, prosecutors said, before White chambered another round and fired into Thomas’ head.
Deputies responded around 3:15 p.m. to reports of shots fired at the Hillcrest Square courthouse complex. Thomas received emergency treatment and was flown for care before he died at Greenville Memorial Hospital. The Laurens County Coroner’s Office identified him as a Woodruff man. The sheriff’s office said White was taken into custody at the scene without incident and that courthouse staff quickly secured the building and parking lot. Early statements described the shooting as isolated, but the public setting drew wide attention across Laurens County.
Solicitor David M. Stumbo said the killing happened in a place meant to resolve family disputes peacefully. He described the violence as “calculated and deeply personal” and said White had taken Thomas’ life while also removing himself from the child’s life through his own prison sentence. The prosecution team included Stumbo, Deputy Solicitor Jared Simmons and Assistant Solicitor Mary-Madison Driggers. Stumbo also praised Investigator Christopher Oggenfuss of the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office for work on the case.
The guilty plea came the same day White’s trial had been scheduled to begin. That timing meant Thomas’ relatives did not have to sit through a full trial, though the court still heard the details of how he died. It also meant White accepted legal responsibility for murder and the weapon offense without a jury deciding guilt. The judge’s sentence matched the seriousness prosecutors attached to the sequence of acts: a vehicle strike, a disabled victim, a gun jam and a final shot.
White is now serving a 40-year sentence after nearly 20 months of criminal proceedings. The custody hearing that brought the men to court is over, and the murder case has ended in guilty pleas. The next public milestone would come only if White files a later challenge to his conviction or sentence.
Author note: Last updated May 10, 2026.