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Jennings gets life, plus 30 for murder, armed robbery

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After pleading guilty to armed robbery and murder, one man will spend the rest of his life in the South Carolina jail system.

Jeffrey Jennings, 29, of Greeneville, Tenn., pleaded guilty this past Friday to the July 25, 2008, murder of Thomas Lane Holcombe, 37, and the armed robbery of Thee Pawn Shoppe in Atlantic Beach.

Jennings and his two attorneys, Scott Bellamy and Bert von Herrmann, worked with Solicitor Greg Hembree on a plea agreement for Jennings to evade the death penalty.

Circuit Judge Steven John sentenced Jennings to life in prison for the murder charge and 30 years to be served consecutively with the life sentence for the armed robbery charge.

Judge John said during the sentencing that the point of his sentence was to keep Jennings from leaving the prison system in South Carolina alive.

Jennings could have been sentenced to death, if he had been found guilty by a jury.

The family of Holcombe and many friends were present for the hearing.

Barbara Holcombe, Thomas Holcombe's mother, pleaded with Judge John to take the plea agreement.

"We loved Lane dearly and he was very special to us," she said to the judge. "It is unbelievable to us that he is gone forever because of one act of selfish violence."

Holcombe showed Judge John several pictures of her son starting with him as a toddler and ending with where they visit him now, at his gravesite.

"We pray and hope that (Jennings) never has a chance to hurt another family," she said.

Hembree said the events that led up to the plea agreement were somewhat complex.

Hembree said Jennings was sentenced to a 12-year jail term in 1999 in Tennessee and was later paroled.

Jennings was then rearrested, and Hembree said that led him to begin a series of crimes that brought him to South Carolina.

Days before he was in Atlantic Beach, Hembree said Jennings met with his wife Brenna Holcombe, and they traveled to Greenville where they stayed for a short time.

While they were living there, Hembree said Jennings got involved in the drug business and was robbed by a drug dealer.

Hembree said Jennings killed the drug dealer in Greenville and was sentenced to life in prison for involuntary manslaughter.

While Greenville police were still looking for Jennings, he and his wife made ther way to Atlantic Beach where they rented a motel room, Hembree said.

During their time in Atlantic Beach, Hembree said Jennings and his wife checked out the pawnshop and returned a bit later to rob it.

Hembree said Jennings took a 40-caliber handgun into the shop and killed Thomas Holcombe with one shot to the head. He took money and goods and left.

As he made his exit, Hembree said Jennings ran into two children hanging out outside the pawnshop and told them not to go into the store because there had been a robbery.

Jennings' wife was waiting at the back of the store with their pickup truck.

From there, Hembree said Jennings and his wife made their way to Virginia Beach and sold the goods he had stolen from the Pawn Shop.

The duo then made their way to Columbia where they bought a new car. In the new car, the two drove to Johnson City, Tenn., where Jennings , had family.

"The police were on his trail and were able to get him in Johnson City where they knew he had family," Hembree said. "Their main goal in the end was to get enough money to make it to Mexico."

Hembree said after the judge's decision that he is happy Jennings will never get out of jail.

"That was the point of this agreement," he said. "Mr. Jennings will never leave jail alive."

Hembree also said Jennings co-defendant and wife, Brenna Jennings, 31, of the 200 block of Heritage Hill Drive, Greeneville, Tenn., should be in court by the end of October.

She is still in the J. Reuben Long Detention Center where she is charged with accessory after the fact of a felony.

That was the point of this agreement. Mr. Jennings will never leave jail alive."



Copyright 2010 The Horry Independent, Conway, South Carolina. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2011 The Horry Independent Conway, South Carolina. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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