A County of Lexington jury found David Paul Merritt, a 48 year old man living in Lexington, guilty of Throwing Bodily Fluids by Prisoner on a Corrections Officer yesterday. Chief Administrative Judge Frank R. Addy, Jr., sentenced Merritt to seven (7) years in the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
This case was investigated by the Lexington County Sheriff's Department and prosecuted by Assistant Solicitors Luke Pincelli and Bradley Pogue.
On May 12, 2018, David Merritt arrived at the Lexington County Detention Center to serve his jail sentence for a prior assault and battery conviction in which he was allowed to serve his sentence on weekends.
While at the Detention Center, Merritt was to be placed into confinement for arriving at the jail under the influence. He was taken to the bathroom at booking where he was ordered to change into his confinement uniform and failed to comply with the corrections officers. Merritt argued with, belittled, and resisted the officers. He defecated on himself. Then he intentionally reached toward his buttocks using his hand and subsequently smeared feces on one of the corrections officers.
The judge fashioned a sentence that would discourage future criminal conduct of this nature among inmates considering correctional officers have a hard enough job.
Merritt has multiple prior convictions for assault and battery.