Carolina Forest High School graduate, David Jon Houghtaling, was at the The Afterdeck nightclub with a group of his friends when he was stabbed to death on Sept. 8, 2009. As a result of the events that took place that night, both Joshua Griffith, 23, of Greenville and Blakely Kalen Brown, 27, of Columbia were arrested and charged with murder. Police records indicate that the initial arrest resulted in two counts of assault and battery with intent to kill. Police were called the nightclub at 2:52 a.m. and arrived just a few minutes later.
Horry County Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard announced that the teenager had passed away as the result of his injuries. The time of death was 3:39 a.m. at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center.
After a brief investigation, police arrested both Blakely Brown and Joshua Griffith. The charges filed against Brown include a murder charge. The charges filed against Griffith include, two counts of assault and battery with intent to kill and murder.
.Houghtaling’s friends, including Sierra Gordyk, said things progressed really fast. “Some guys were just staring them down, guys trying to be tough, I think. They were just staring at my friends. One of the guys approached Ryan, and it just broke out into a fight.”
The fight, which took place near the dance floor resulted in two of Houghtaling’s friends,
Ryan Palmer and Rob Penna, getting stabbed. Penna spent two weeks recovering from a punctured lung.
“[Houghtaling and Penna] were just trying to help their friend out,” Gordyk said. “They went into the fight to help their other friend and they just got caught in the wrong place.”
After a long and sometimes complicated trial, Griffith was found guilty of the stabbing murder and was sentenced to spend the next 30 years of his life in prison. Brown was found guilty of being an accessory after the fact of a felony and was sentenced to an 8 year prison term.
During the trial, the defense attorneys tried to argue that the stabbing was an act of self-defense, which the prosecution neatly parried.
During the trial, Prosecutor Nancy Livesay, stated her belief that the defendants hadn’t gone to the nightclub in search of a good time. “They weren’t down here to socialize,” she said of Griffith and Brown. “They were down here to start trouble.”
She also direct the jury’s attention to the fact that prior to the stabbing inside the nightclub, both Brown and Griffith attempted to start a fight outside, but didn’t succeed, that changed when they went inside and bumped into Ryan Palmer whose hand somehow got cut during the fight.
“Horrible cases like this that involve such young victims always break my heart. They’re also the reason I chose to focus my energy on personal injury law. I want to protect families who have been victimized by others and help them recover from financial setbacks triggered by incidents like this one,” said Joseph Sandefur, managing partner of Joe and Martin, a top personal injury firm with an office headquartered in Myrtle Beach.
In 2013, Weatherford was declared disabled and as such qualified for benefits, which she received from that time through April 9, 2015 at which point she was told she was no longer eligible and that her benefits were denied. A few months later, the benefits were reinstated, but that only lasted for a few months before Weatherford was once again denied by the Life Insurance Co. of North America company. According to the insurance company, Weatherford failed to provide sufficient evidence of her medical condition.
If you find yourself in a similar position, you need to remember that you do have legal options. Most have a free initial consultation service which provides them with an opportunity to explore the details of your case and advise you about your best course of legal options.
It’s important to remember that enlisting the service of a good personal injury 
Evan Spahlinger, a South Carolina resident, experienced an e-Cig exploding when he was using it. According to his attorney, the e-cig, “burst into flames in his face, causing him to inhale flames, smoke and scorching hot air.” In order to recover, he had to be placed into a medically-induced coma. He filed a product liability lawsuit against the e-cig manufacturer.
In the report, the clinical trial compared how Xarelto and the more traditionally used warfarin dealt with health issues commonly experienced by individuals who used blood thinners. During the clinical trial individuals who had either had strokes or another blood issues took either Xarelto or warfarin. At the end of the trial, the article indicated that Xarelto resulted in fewer fatal bleedings, even though both treatment options produced the same risk of hemorrhaging. Many feel that if doctors had been privy to this one key bit of information, they might not have been so quick to prescribe Xarelto to patients.
Distracted driving causes car accidents every single day of the year. It is more common than you may initially realize. Distracted driving comes in many forms, examples include: talking on the phone, texting, eating, putting on makeup, and many other crazy things you’ve probably seen people doing while driving or stopped at a red light. Many people may not consider being tired distracted driving, but it most certainly is. Drowsy driving is still distracted driving and it occurs more frequently than you may think.
The warning signs of drowsiness should be taken with caution and show the driver that they aren’t safe to continue to drive.