<strong>From staff reports</strong>

Two Beaufort residents were sentenced Monday for their roles in the shooting deaths of a St. Helena Island man and his nephew in 2017.

Nashon Pringle, 21, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and his half-brother Raheem Bennett, 19, was sentenced to 18 years Monday at the Beaufort County Courthouse. Both previously pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the deaths of Robert and Chaz Blanding.

Robert Blanding of St. Helena Island, 25, and his 19-year-old nephew, Chaz Blanding, were shot to death during an apparent robbery attempt on a secluded Lady’s Island road, just after dark on Nov. 21, 2017.

Monday’s sentencings bring to three the number of defendants convicted in the Blanding deaths. Symone Jones, 23, pleaded guilty as indicted in October 2019 to two counts of accessory after the fact of murder. She was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Charges against two other defendants in the case – Gerard Kenard “Roddy” Daise, 21, and Channon Talon “Glizzy” Preston, 21 – were dismissed after a jury could not determine guilt after a full presentation of the evidence.

The defendants were prosecuted by Mary Jones of the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.

“This case illustrates the difficulty – and sometimes, the impossibility – of proving a case with only co-defendant testimony,” Mary Jones said. “There was little physical evidence, and the only eye-witnesses were involved in the homicide.”