COLUMBIA MAN FOUND GUILTY OF FATALLY STABBING A MAN IN 2017

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February 18, 2022

Columbia – Thursday, February 17, 2022, a Richland County jury found Matthew Young guilty of Voluntary Manslaughter and Possession of a Weapon During the Commission of a Violent Crime.

The Honorable Robert Hood sentenced Matthew Young to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the Voluntary Manslaughter and five (5) years on Possession of a Weapon During the Commission of a Violent Crime, to run concurrent.

The facts presented to the jury were that on December 15, 2017, the defendant stabbed and killed Abdius Pacius, age 28.  Pacius was alone in his car while leaving the Heritage Village subdivision.  As he drove down Heritage Village Lane, the defendant, Matthew Young, was blowing leaves while standing in the center of the roadway.  Young accused Pacius of driving too fast and that the car hit the end of his leaf blower.  Pacius stopped his car; Young then walked to the car where an argument ensued.  Young stabbed Pacius one time in the chest and he died soon thereafter.  Young lied to law enforcement about being involved in an altercation with Pacius.  When confronted with evidence that showed he was lying, Young admitted to stabbing Pacius and denied that he stabbed Pacius in self-defense.

He was arrested and charged with Murder and Possession of a Weapon During the Commission of a Violent Crime by Investigator Christian Ross of the Columbia Police Department.  Young had previously been convicted of Voluntary Manslaughter in Aiken County in 1995 and received a fifteen (15) year sentence.

Assistant Solicitor Carter Potts, Deputy Circuit Solicitor April Sampson, and Assistant Solicitor Andrew Smith represented the State.

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