Chapter 1: What is the significance of Jennifer Spivey Foley's court hearing?
To hear previous episodes of Camp Swamp Road, there is a link in this episode's description. Click on that to go to a Spotify playlist of the whole series. A word of warning. This series contains descriptions of violence and strong language, including unbelieved curse words. Please be advised. Previously on Camp Swamp Road...
He shot us first. He shot at you? He shot 100%.
You don't know what to think. It's like the bottom of your whole being, your soul. Everything just kind of drops out.
Bradley, I know it's fucked up to say, but I had a fucking blast. I know it's fucked up, but I'm a fucked up person. I was like, you're kidding me. He was like, no, I'm not kidding you. It's like it just keeps getting more and more absurd. You know, I'll be so glad when we get out of the podcast world with due respect to you and into the courtroom so we can try this case.
The town of Conway, South Carolina is the Horry County seat. It's where Scott Spivey's body was towed in his truck on the night he was killed. It's where the county council meets. And it's where Jennifer Spivey Foley gave a speech begging anyone in authority to look at the evidence she'd uncovered. In a red brick building in the town center is the county courthouse.
Inside, a hearing is about to start. It's a hearing for Jennifer's wrongful death lawsuit against Weldon Boyd and Bradley Williams.
Good morning.
Good morning, ma'am. Ma'am, are y'all—I'll get you to a media. Media, yes. Okay.
But we know not to bring our phones up.
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Chapter 2: How does the Stand Your Ground law affect the case?
Then, the defense plays a 911 recording from a different witness on Highway 9. She was the first person to call the police that day.
We would pretend to play...
If you've heard earlier episodes, this call should be pretty familiar.
There is a guy that is waving a gun in front of me trying to shoot at my car. And the other one's beside us. He's all over the road.
From the start of the police investigation, the witness account of Blaise Ward was crucial. She said she saw everything. She saw Spivey with a gun on the highway. She saw the road raging with Weldon Boyd. And she saw the shooting on Camp Swamp Road.
He's jumping out of the truck. I'm turning the same way. There is a truck behind him.
And... Oh, my God. Oh, my God. What happened, ma'am? What happened? Did he fire the gun? Ma'am, ma'am. Oh, my God.
Boyden-Williams' lawyer described her as, quote, The lawyers on both sides wanted Blaze Ward to testify in court. But for months before the hearing, Ward had gone dark. She didn't respond to phone calls, door knocks, or subpoenas. But at the last minute, Ward surfaced. Rather than coming into court to testify, though, she agreed to sit for a recorded deposition.
That happened on Friday the 13th, just days before the hearing started.
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Chapter 3: What arguments did the defense present during the hearing?
Weldon Boyd takes the stand.
Mr. Boyd, it's been a long time coming for you to tell your story. I'm ready.
Weldon Boyd takes the stand on the third day of the hearing. He's now wearing a gray suit, and he's not wearing his Rolex anymore. After he's sworn in, Boyd is questioned by his longtime lawyer, a man named Ken Moss.
Now, here's what I want you to do. I want you to pay attention to that judge and only that judge. I'm going to ask you a lot of questions. But the only two people in this courtroom that matter are you and that judge.
Yes, sir.
Moss questions Boyd for about four hours, and they cover a lot, going back to Boyd's upbringing.
My father is a very direct, blunt man, and I think I was raised the same way. You know, you fall down and get up. I don't want to hear you whine about it. It happens. It's going to happen again. Do the right thing. If you feel like something needs to be done, you do it. Don't be lazy. And put your family first.
Boyd is asked about his experience in the National Guard and a deployment to Kuwait. And he spends a lot of time talking about a custody battle with his ex-fiance. After two hours, Boyd starts to tell his version of what happened on Camp Swamp Road.
I'm driving along And I'm just finishing up a text message, and I sent that. And as soon as I sent it, sometime immediately after, I hear my friend Bradley, excuse my language, Judge, yell, what the fuck?
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Chapter 4: What key evidence was presented against Scott Spivey's actions?
Now that you call it, it's dark humor, right? No, it's always dark humor. That's how I cope. You giggle like a little girl when you're coping? I do giggle. Especially when you're having fun, right? I've had a very difficult time with all of this. This was filmed, this was recorded in the immediate days after when I am still in the state of confusion, shock, trauma. I'm trying to cope best I can.
I use dark humor. I have ups. I have downs. I'm crying. I'm laughing. I'm happy I'm alive. I'm paranoid. It is an up-down episode. And from everything I've seen, that is a totally normal situation for someone to be in after they go through something like that.
After about an hour of questioning Boyd, Tinsley stops and looks up at Judge Griffith.
Judge, all of these audio calls are in the record. I've cited to them. I can do this for, there's eight hours of calls and I can do this for hours. I'm gonna rely on what we've put in the record. I don't think I need to play anymore to demonstrate. What you've seen here is the case.
The cross-examination is over. According to my reporting, the Spivey's legal team tried to make a deal with Bradley Williams. In exchange for testifying against Boyd, the family said they would ask the judge to grant Williams immunity. That means he would never risk being charged, never risk going to prison. But instead of taking the deal, Williams takes the stand.
The first time I seen him, he was pointing a gun at me. I exclaimed, well, I said other words, but I'm going to skip that. He was driving erratic. He would jump in front of us. He would start slamming on the brakes, speed back off, slam on the brakes again. He ran us off the road.
The whole time he's doing this, he's also pointing the gun at other people, pointing the gun at us, waving the gun out the window. It was madness.
Williams backs up most everything that Boyd testified to. There was no chase. Boyd was just relaying information to 911. It was Scott Spivey who caused the conflict, and Spivey shot first. Williams' lawyer, Morgan Martin, asked the questions.
In the seconds before you or Weldon shoot the gun, are you in fear for your life? Absolutely. Do you believe any reasonable man would have been in fear for his life?
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Chapter 5: How did witnesses describe the moments leading up to the shooting?
Yes, sir. Morgan Martin, for Boyden-Williams side, goes first.
I am going to make this abbreviated. You'll be happy to hear, okay? But there are some things that I do think are worth mentioning and I would like for you to take with you when you leave the courtroom.
This is Martin's final chance to convince the judge that Boyd and Williams should have immunity for the killing of Scott Spivey. He says that Spivey's dangerous behavior on the road is not up for debate.
The old law on malice used to say he was a guy who was devoid of social duty and fatally bent on mischief. And that's what happened. If you want to get down to why this happened, he caused it. His fault.
He didn't withdraw. Martin argues that what Boyd and Williams did on Camp Swamp Road is what any reasonable person would do.
Self-defense, self-preservation is an instinct that comes from the gut. You got it, I got it, everybody in this room's got it. The great buck on the hill, mightiest in the woods and the forest, if he hears the snap of a twig, he's gone. He's not gonna let trouble get him first.
As Martin ends his remarks, Thank you, Judge. Mark Tinsley starts to stand up. Ms.
Tinsley, I want you to stay there.
The judge tells Tinsley to sit back down. It's not clear what's happening. The lawyers look confused. Both sides had told me it could take weeks or even months before the judge would issue his ruling. But at this moment, I realize that Judge Griffith doesn't want any time to deliberate. he's already made up his mind.
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Chapter 6: What inconsistencies arose in witness testimonies?
Thank you. That concludes our hearing.
A few days later, I talked with Jennifer about the ruling.
It was so relieving to hear somebody else come to that same conclusion, to someone else to say, it's not credible. Your story doesn't match. It just was so much like, this is what we've been saying all along. Finally, somebody else sees it. It's exactly what I had been saying from day one to the police and to everybody else.
You know, they said, the detective told me there's three sides to every story, your side, their side, and the truth. What was told in court is the closest thing to the truth that anybody's ever going to get.
And so after the hearing, what did y'all do?
We had our receiving line of friends and family that came and left on us afterwards. And as we made our way downstairs, you know, we had lots of congratulations as the
We went downstairs and then me, Mama, and my husband, we loaded up in my car and I said, I don't know about y'all, but I want some ice cream. I think this deserves it. I think we deserve milkshakes after today. So we went and got ice cream sundaes. I had a hot fudge brownie and Mama had a waffle cone. It was a good day.
Now that Weldon Boyd's immunity is gone, the spivey civil suit against him is moving forward. Separately, a grand jury is considering criminal charges against Boyd and possibly Bradley Williams. What has this experience taught you about the justice system? It is far from perfect.
And the easiest thing is the thing that the justice system is going to do.
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