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<p><strong>From staff reports</strong></p>
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<p>A Lady’s Island man who attacked a woman with a box cutter in a dispute over a motel room has been convicted of attempted murder.</p>
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<p>A Beaufort County General Sessions Court jury found Demetrius Deon Thompson, 43, guilty Thursday, Oct. 21, of attacking a St. Helena Island woman in December 2020. Thompson also was convicted for possession of a weapon during commission of a violent crime.</p>
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<p>He was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison for the attempted murder and five years for the weapon charge. The sentences are to be served concurrently.</p>
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<p>“Mr. Thompson hunted down his victim to attack her over the bill for a motel room,” Assistant Solicitor Daniel Gourley, who prosecuted the case, said in a release. “His violent reaction and his history of criminal behavior makes it clear Mr. Thompson is a danger to the community and needs to be off the streets.”</p>
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<p>According to prosecutors, Thompson and the woman stayed together in a Port Royal motel on Dec. 4, 2020. The two quarreled over who would pay for a second night’s stay, and Thompson told authorities that when he awoke the next morning, the woman had already departed without leaving money for an additional night.</p>
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<p>Angered, Thompson left the room with a box cutter and began looking for the woman. He found her walking with another man along a road near the Beaufort High School football stadium on Lady’s Island. Thompson confronted her, then slashed her neck with the box cutter.</p>
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<p>The woman was treated at Beaufort Memorial Hospital.</p>
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<p>Beaufort County Sheriff’s officers located Thompson shortly after the attack, and he led them to the box cutter, which had the victim’s blood and hair on it.</p>
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<p>Thompson’s criminal history includes convictions for trespassing, possession of marijuana, assault and battery, sale or delivery of cocaine, and sex-offender registry violations.</p>
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<p>Gourley called 11 witnesses during the two-day trial at the Beaufort County Courthouse. Circuit Court Judge Carmen T. Mullen handed down the sentence.</p>
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