Greenwood man exonerated after report connects gun crimes

GREENWOOD, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - The Eighth Circuit Solicitor’s Office is dropping charges against Cassius Broadwater after a report from the State Law Enforcement Division pointed to a different suspect.

Broadwater has been behind bars in the Greenwood County Detention Center since police charged him with the 2021 murders of Ariel Beeks and Kyndall Curry more than two years ago.

Broadwater’s attorney, Tristan Shaffer, said SLED found a match in their database, linking the gun used to kill Beeks and Curry on June 28, 2021, to two other crimes.

“As soon as that happened, the solicitor’s office said, ‘OK, we really need to take a look as to whether or not the Greenwood Police Department made the right arrest here,’” Shaffer said.

According to the report, the gun used on June 28, 2021, was also used in another murder on June 12, 2021. It was also connected to a weapons violation on July 3, 2021.

Greenwood police arrested Quindaris Washington in January 2022 for the June 12, 2021, shooting. The Eighth Circuit Solicitor’s Office said the police department is now seeking warrants to charge Washington with the June 28, 2021, shooting too.

But the charges could have been dropped sooner.

Shaffer said SLED got the gun, which eventually linked Washington to the double murder, in 2021. According to the report, it wasn’t tested until October 2022.

Then, Shaffer said, the report wasn’t passed on to the solicitor’s office until May 2023.

“Since that time, Solicitor David Stumbo and Deputy Solicitor Yates Brown have worked diligently to re-evaluate whether the Greenwood Police Department had arrested an innocent man,” Shaffer said in a press release about the dropped charges.

The Greenwood Police Department has not responded to requests for comment.

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