A murder suspect arrested Sunday by police was supposed to be in jail at the time police say he fatally shot a man Saturday night, according to jail officials at the Florence County Detention Center.
Police arrested 32-year-old Kevin Burgess and charged him with murder and assault and battery with intent to kill after Saturday night's shooting death of Frederick Scriven of Lake City.
Scriven was shot around 9:00 p.m. Saturday while on Morris Street in Lake City and died en route to a hospital, according to Lake City police and Florence County Coroner Bubba Mathews.
The suspect, Burgess, was already serving an "alternative" prison sentence, one in which he was supposed to report to jail every Friday - Sunday since January 2009, according to jail officials.
However, Burgess did not report to jail this past Friday, April 10. That's the sixth weekend Burgess has missed since his sentence began in January, according to Cpt. Joyce Brunson with the detention center.
Brunson said Judge Michael Nettles on January 9, 2009 sentenced Burgess to 90 days of weekend time. That means Burgess was to spend three days in jail per week until he reached a cumulative 90 days behind bars -- or 30 weekends.
The sentence stems from charges dating back to April 3, 2008 and include, according to Brunson:
-driving with a suspended license;
-child passenger restraint system violation;
-manufacture, distribution, etc. ice, crank, crack cocaine
-possession of substances in schedule 1, 2, or 3 with intent to distribute
Since his January sentence began, Burgess failed to report to jail on six different weekends, according to Brunson: January 23, February 13, March 6, March 20, March 27 and April 10.
Brunson said jail officials do not alert a prisoner's sentencing judge until "weekend prisoners" fail to show for 30 days. Had Burgess not reported to jail on the weekend of April 3rd, Brunson said Judge Nettles would have been notified.
At that time, according to Brunson, Judge Nettles would have most likely issued a bench warrant for Burgess's arrest.
Brunson said currently there are roughly 30 weekend prisoners at the detention center.
NewsChannel 15 will continue to follow this story and post more information as it becomes available.
