STATE NEWS BRIEFS

Man sentenced to 30 years

SUMTER - A Wedgefield man has been sentenced to 30 years in jail after being convicted of killing another man in 2005.

But the jury found 56-yearold Nathaniel Bradley not guilty of possessing a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

That, Bradley's attorney Ernest A. Finney III, makes no sense and is grounds for a new trial.

''The only way (the jury) could have reached that verdict was they speculated that he was there but someone else did the crime,'' Finney said.

Bradley continued to deny that he shot and killed 39- year-old Ernest James, whose body was found in a pond days after he was last seen by his family.

''I'd like to say to the James family that I did not kill Mr. James,'' Bradley said before his sentencing. ''I did not kill your brother, your son, nor was it in the capacity of my mind.''

Circuit Judge Ferrell Cothran said the 30-year sentence reflected the fact that much of the case against Bradley was circumstantial. The gun used to kill James was never found.

''I normally would have given him life,'' Cothran said. ''But the fact that he's 56 years old, a 30-year sentence is essentially a life sentence.''

Missing inmate recaptured

COLUMBIA - An inmate missing from the Federal Correctional Institution in Estill since Jan. 15 was captured Saturday, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

Terry Lowry, 59, was waiting for a friend of a friend to pick him up in Allendale County when he got into a truck with an undercover officer, Deputy U.S. Marshal Tim Stec said in a news release.

Investigators think Lowry had been living in the woods this week. Investigators said they learned that acquaintances were planning to send someone to pick Lowry up this morning.

Lowry was serving a 54- month sentence on federal cocaine charges out of Georgia. He will now face charges of escape, Stec said.