(AP) -- Prosecutors say they will seek a death sentence if a Beaufort County man is convicted of killing his girlfriend and her 4-year-old son.
The Beaufort Gazette reported that prosecutors said Monday they will seek a death sentence against 28-year-old Ernest Stewart Daise.
Thirty-four-year-old Jeanine Mullen and 4-year-old Waltfredo-Davis Mullen were shot and killed at their home in Dale in 2009. The couple's 2-year-old son was wounded.
Prosecutor Duffie Stone says the death sentence is qualified under South Carolina law because more than one person was killed and because one of the victims was a child under age 12.
Daise did not enter a plea during Monday's hearing.
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