The Post and Courier - Charleston, S.C.
Author: HERB FRAZIER
Date: Jul 13, 2002
Start Page: 1
Section: B
Document Types: COPYDESK
Text Word Count: 444

Paul Bond went to court Friday not knowing whether he would walk away free or go to prison for life for stabbing his older brother at a West Ashley house they shared with their mother.

Prosecutors alleged that Bond stabbed Michael Bond in his chest with a six-inch hunting knife because Michael went into his bedroom and drank nearly all of his scotch.

But Paul testified that he was defending himself when an angry Michael lunged at him after he told their mother that Michael was drinking in his bedroom.

The stabbing, Paul testified, was an accident.

After deliberating for two hours, a jury Friday believed Paul Bond's version of what happened Dec. 1 and found him not guilty of assault and battery with intent to kill.

"All right Mr. Bond, you're free to go," Circuit Judge Deadra Jefferson told Bond, who was returned to the Charleston County Detention Center where he has been held since the stabbing.

Neither brother was available for comment.

Defense attorney Guy Vitetta said, "I've always believed in Paul, and I am just happy the jury believed him. I just hope he and his brother can reconcile."

Assistant Solicitor Mike Dupree said he was surprised by the jury's decision.

Dupree said he thought jurors would have found Bond guilty of the lesser charge of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.

Dupree said Paul Bond was convicted in 1976 of manslaughter.

If he had been convicted Friday, Dupree said Bond would have received a mandatory life sentence without parole because of South Carolina's two-strikes-you're-out law.

Paul Francis Bond, 52, a disabled dockworker, and Michael Edwin Bond, 50, a musician, have had a rocky relationship since they were children, according to testimony during the two-day trial.

Michael Bond said he was afraid of his brother, who would fire a gun near him when they were boys and as an adult threatened to kill him.

Paul Bond testified that their childhood fights were part of a normal sibling relationship. He said he never fired a weapon near his brother or threatened to kill him.

When Michael drank, he was "mean as a rattlesnake," but when he was sober he was as "good as gold," Paul Bond testified.

Their mother, Kate Bond, had threatened to put Michael out of her house if he did not stop drinking.

While Paul was in the jail awaiting trial, Kate Bond died.

Vitetta said the house on Millcreek Drive that the brothers shared with their mother is being sold.

When Paul Bond leaves the county jail, he is expected to live with an older brother, Vitetta said.

Credit: The Post and Courier

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