SC Officer shot 4 times in the back and killed - investigation continuing

[Sportcat]

 

[CentralTexas]

-

"We all know that Robb should not have been on that property"

I think we are in agreement on that point.
CT

 

[NineseveN]

What pitiful excuses of humans beings you all are.

I am a member of Odam's family. Let me ask if you were there???? I was... all four days and I saw the evidence and know that Rye murdered my friend.

You all speak as if you have some sort of facts to this case and you do not. You take the word of the facts from someone in Rye's family who will feed you whatever you want just to say the system failed. In this case it did not and Rye won't walk out of that prison... he will be rolled out when he dies in there.

We all know that Robb should not have been on that property. But did these folks tell you that Rye had called 911 and was going to wait near the road for the deputies. He hears a shot and then deliberately guns a man down. Robb never shot as him, the weapon was on safe. Rye's family got there planned stories mixed up and it showed on the stands.

Murder = malice and the state proved this. Rye had been lieing in wait before in his deer stand to catch whoever was on his land and told deputies he was going to do what he had to do.

I don't need to come back here to see what you all say. You will continue to believe the lies and speculate on something you don't have a clue about. I hope a jury member will come on here and tell you what they saw.

Those of you glad that someone was killed... I really hope and pray that you get your crap together. Get the facts you fools... repent while you have time. We hope that Grover Rye does.

I have to seriously question if this is really a family member. I don't mean to accuse anyone of anything, but this just doesn't feel right for some reason...

DepFam, how did you find this thread?

 

[depfam]

easy to find... google thomas rye murder...

you don't have to believe me... i don't care if you do or not...

Just ask the member of Rye's family here how many shots were supposedly heard fired... they all got on the stand and said.. ohh yeah we heard seven shots... clearly three from one gun and then four from another... but what brought Rye up to his house... a first shot that none of them testified to hearing... as the prosecutor said in his closing arguement they had their story down about what happened but forgot that one key part... that first shot....

and to address what numbnuts above said about 41 rounds... anyone knowing how to shoot and m16/ar15 would load the magazine and sling back the charinging handle... people don't load a magazine and then put a round in the chamber through the ejection port...

You all have fun... I won't be coming back around here.. too much crap to wade through. Again, I urge you to get your facts straight before speculating. You just haven't a clue as to what you are talking about in this case.

 

[NineseveN]

easy to find... google thomas rye murder...

Actually, I did, I could not find anything other than the information already posted in this thread. I sincerely wish there was more information to go on though.

Just ask the member of Rye's family here how many shots were supposedly heard fired... they all got on the stand and said.. ohh yeah we heard seven shots... clearly three from one gun and then four from another... but what brought Rye up to his house... a first shot that none of them testified to hearing... as the prosecutor said in his closing arguement they had their story down about what happened but forgot that one key part... that first shot....

Neither here nor there I'm afraid. A man does not need a reason to walk on his own property. If no one heard any shots, and he happened upon Odam and his friend, where's the crime? All we have is what we started with whether or not a first shot was heard. They killed one of his cats, someone had to shoot it at some point.

and to address what numbnuts above said about 41 rounds... anyone knowing how to shoot and m16/ar15 would load the magazine and sling back the charinging handle... people don't load a magazine and then put a round in the chamber through the ejection port...

I understand if you truly are a family member of the officer that you would have a lot of emotion on this, but insults hardly advance your arguments here. I don't know how many AR-15's or semi-auto rilfes you own, but typically, I load a magazine fully, chamber a round with the charging handle and then top the magazine off. I do this with my semi-auto handguns as well, as I assume the majority of the folks here do. So again, neither here nor there.

You all have fun... I won't be coming back around here.. too much crap to wade through. Again, I urge you to get your facts straight before speculating. You just haven't a clue as to what you are talking about in this case.

We're going on what we know, and from the information in the news blurbs that we could catch, we formed our opinions. It's a shame you cannot enlighten us, but I can't say I blame you for not wanting to come back.

I still stand on the opinion that based on the evidence I have read, the shoot was likely good and a man is in prison that should not be. I could be wrong, as is obvious, I don't have all of the facts.

 

[Sindawe]

You all have fun... I won't be coming back around here.

Wait, did'nt you say that in your FIRST post? Why, yes you did. Yet here you are AGAIN. Hmmmm....

Based on the documents I've seen (news reports and the like) "Officer Odam" was in places in he should not have been, doing things he should have been doing, to property that was not his. Too put it bluntly, he up. Sometimes, that has fatal consequences.

Life is a [female canid in heat], then you die. Perhaps he'll remember the lesson on his next turn on the wheel.

 

[williamlayton]

I have read and re-read this thread.
I have become biased.
I believe an injustice has been accomplished.
I will say this, with no apologies, if this had happened in Texas the man probably would not have been convicted.
I can assure you that I am convinced that a criminal has been taken off the streets, but, it is not the man sentenced to prison.
I am a firm believer that sometimes you do what you have to do and hang the consequences.
I feel for the officers family but I do have contempt for the officer and feel the force is better off without his presence and so is the public.
Blessings

 

[JJohnston015]

Agree with that last sentiment, WilliamLayton, but for every dirtbag-with-a-badge like Odam that kills himself, there will be 10 more to take his place.

 

[ny32182]

If Rye can be convicted of this on his own property, against 2-3 armed assailants, anyone can be convicted for defending themselves, regardless of the circumstances, time, place, etc.

The only silverlining to this is that Rye took a criminal off the streets with him. A thug with a badge is worse than an ordinary thug.

At least he got 59 good years in. This is the kind of thing you'd expect to hear about in CA, not SC.

 

[MechAg94]

Instead of complaining about our lack of informaiton and insulting us, I feel depfam should try presenting his side of the facts first. I certainly wouldn't have a problem with that. I might question him a lot, but more facts would be welcome. It certainly might shed light on why the jury would convict the land owner.

The comment about lying in wait in a deer stand to catch them is curious. If he had been doing this and was intent upon murdering someone, why did he call 911 the first time and offer the meet the officer at the road? However, if I knew someone had been trespassing on my land shooting my cats, I might be sitting out there waiting for them as well. Maybe not to murder them, but at least to find out who it was.

 

[Sportcat]

I'm getting a bit lost in this thread. Could someone type out a timeline of the events as they happened that day(s)?

 

[wasthere]

It amazes me how many of you assume that this third cousin of Rye's is telling the truth. It also amazes me that you make an assumption about a man that you have never met and yet you can conclude that it was the young mans fault. I was there in the court room and I can tell you that Mr. Odam(for those of you who can't spell) wasn't at the property in the morning, so he didn't know what had gone on over there.He did trespass onto Rye's property in the afternoon. All Rye had to do was wait for the police to arrive. Funny that this third cousin says he was in the court room and yet he didn't hear that there where only two people back at Rye's property and he told you that there were three. He must not have been listing. Mitchell and Odam went back. And just as an FYI only O'Connell was the brother-in-law not Mitchel. All of Ryes witnesses purged themselves on the stand. One of his cousins said that he heard two distinct guns, but has 50% hearing loss in one ear and has a hearing aid in the other. This cousin also forgot to tell you then when this same witness was on the stand he first said that the shots where one on top of the other and then when asked a simalar question was caught in his lie and just sat there on the stand not saying a word. Also one witness testfied that she was a friend or a renter and then recanted on the stand that she was a cousin of Rye's. Rye himself purged on the stand by stating first that it was a running gun battle and then said he was standing then again saying it was a running gun battle and at this point realized what he did and wouldn't answer the questions. Also at this time I would like to point out that all of Rye's witnesses purged themselves so badly on the stand the the defense wouldn't even redirect any questions the prosecution had asked.That is odd, because you would want to discredit any evidence of purgery on the stand and yet he didn't. Does anyone mention that several times Rye's attorney had to ask him to stop speaking and to not go that far into detail, no. Does anyone who claims that they were in the courtroom mention that Rye ordered his own attorney to bring him things on that stand and that he also tried to order the stenographer to reread what he said. No one mentions that the evidence that was presented during the trail was proved to be the same reports that had already been given to the defense and that the defense was given the opportunity to cross examine that evidence and did. The defense also stated that this was the same reports just in a different file. And just incase you weren't told that on the 911 tape that was presented in court, Mr Rye said and I quote" I killed that SOB and that SOB is deader than hell, send a coroner." When one of Mr. Rye's cousins(the one that can't hear) said Mr. Rye wasn't angree when he called 911 the second time, his wife then got on the stand and said, "oh, yes he was mad." Rye stated that he was about to have a heart attack and that ems was called for him. He wouldn't answer prosecutions question about the timing of his apparent heart attack. It happened to be at the same time as he was asked to give a written statement to police. Rye also said that Odam shot at him 5 or 6 times at first then recanted once he found the rounds he said where Odams and said Odam shot at him three times. Funny,how the story changed. When it was told that Mr. Mitchell changed his story, that was proven that the only thing that ever changed about his story was that he indeed had shot the cats. That was the only thing that changed. The coroner never said that Odam was ever shot and then his body turned and that is why he was shot in the back, he said that the fatty part of Odams neck on the back was grazed, that his left arm was raised in the air about shoulder height and that the bullet entered the side of Odam and the other two shots where in the direct back. He also stated that the pattern indicated that someone walked around Odam and shot him once he was already down. What this cousin also forgets to mention is that Odam's gun was on saftey and that his gun was found six feet from his body. It was also proven that because Rye didn't wait for the ploice he ruined his own selfdefense case. All he had to do was wait. Mr. Mitchell testified that Odam was told to put his gun down by Rye and that when he was he was saying "okay, okay, please don't shoot." and as he bent down with his hand in the air Rye shot him. Mitchell then said that is when he ran, not before. In Rye's final statement before sentencing he said to the Odam family that he was sorry and that he hoped they could forgive him. He also said that he did what he did because the people kept coming back. Again all he had to do was wait. I think this is a tragendy all the way around. They shouldn't have been on Rye's property and he shouldn't have shot a man that wasn't shooting at him and that was puting his gun down. I don't think that it matters what anyones occupation is in this trail. Also Mitchell stated that he was not given any deals by prosecution and that he would be facing charges. I don't think its is funny that you would solve a murder case before you sovle a breakin and trespassing. I will say that I was impressed with Odam's family when they had the opportunity to make statements. Mr. Odam's twin brother told the court that he would forgive Rye one day. I will also point out that this was a very easy site to get to for those of you who don't think it is, anyone with decent computer savy can find this site. I would like to say that anyone with common sense would look at the name of this site and would think that the aquisations made here about this case wouldn't think that most of you are taking the "highroad."

 

[rock jock]

Truly a tragedy. Mistakes made by all.

 

[Old Dog]

I'm amazed that so many -- who were not present at the shooting or in the courtroom during the trial -- can actually pass judgement on the justice or injustice of this case based solely on this thread and the excerpts of the poorly-written newspaper articles. Rock Jock's is about the only accurate comment I've read ...

 

[Preacherman]

Folks, there's an awful lot of heat in this thread, and not very much light. I'm closing this discussion down now, in order to prevent further agitation and nastiness. I think that the situation as discussed here is certainly murky, and I hope that the inevitable appeals, etc. will clarify the situation in the legal arena.