2000 murder case to be subject of TV show

Gaffney residents with access to the Tru Tv cable television channel, formerly known as Court TV, may want to check out the show Forensic Files airing tonight at 10 p.m.

While advertisements for the documentary-type true crime show don't confirm the case it's profiling, producers interviewed investigators from the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office and prosecutors such as 7th Circuit Solicitor Trey Gowdy about a local case earlier this year for tonight's episode entitled "Home Evasion."

The episode centers on the 2000 murder case of Jonathan Binney, a Spartanburg County man who broke into the Cherokee County home of Judy Southern. Prosecutors and investigators contended Binney waited six hours, drinking beer and playing video games, until Southern came back home and he shot her.

Investigators would find evidence at the scene including a suicide note that allowed them to track Binney down as he hid in the basement of a Pacolet-area home. Binney subsequently confessed to the crime. A Gaffney jury convicted Binney of murder in 2002 and he was sentenced to death. He remains in prison at this time.