Colleton County convicted over 2020 hunting incident that left two people dead

COLLETON COUNTY, SC (WCSC) – A Colleton County man accused of shooting a father and daughter during a hunting trip in 2020 pleaded guilty before his case could go to trial.

Sean Peterson, 33, was charged with two counts of negligent use of a firearm during the hunt that resulted in the shooting deaths of 30-year-old Kim Drawdy and 9-year-old Lauren Drawdy on January 1, 2020.

Judge Maite Murphy sentenced Peterson on Monday to a total of five years in prison and four years probation.

Peterson decided to enter his guilty plea after the state had completed a full jury selection and pretrial motion.

Investigators said Peterson was hunting with friends in a wooded area off Barracada Road near Walterboro on New Year’s Day 2020 and admitted at the time to firing in the direction of noise from the bushes that he believed were deer.

The charges stem from an incident that occurred on New Year’s Day 2020. Sean Peterson, 33, was hunting with friends and admitted to firing at what he thought were deer in the direction of noise coming from the bushes, but fatally striking the Drawdys.

The verdict on Monday was marked by emotional testimony from both sides, each of which filled several judges’ benches.

“We can’t teach Lauren to drive. We can’t help her pick out a prom dress,” said Kim Drawdy’s former sister-in-law, Brandy Branton. “We can’t take Kim on the river anymore. We can’t go fishing with him anymore. Nothing.”

Some, like Kim Drawdy’s cousin Tina O’Quinn, could barely speak.

“Kim was a very good person,” O’Quinn said. “Lauren was a beautiful little girl. None of this should have ever happened.”

Peterson himself thanked the family, with whom he said he has not spoken since the deaths.

“I love you all and it wasn’t intentional,” Peterson said. “If I could take it back, I would.”

Before Peterson decided to plead in pretrial, Murphy denied defense attorney Scott Harvin’s motion to exclude evidence of hard drug use at the New Year’s Eve party the night before the hunting trip. However, she granted his second motion to exclude the fact that Peterson had an expired hunting license at the time of the incident because it was not the immediate cause of death.

“Everyone was guilty in that situation,” said Peterson’s mother, Valorie Jones. “Nobody was innocent in that situation. And everything that was done was done by everyone that day.”

Murphy addressed some of the allegations.

“Quite frankly, there was an innocent person out there, and that was Lauren,” Murphy said. “Mr. Harvin, I don’t believe for a second that the drugs had nothing to do with it. They were part of the crime.”

Prosecutor Julie Kate Keeney claimed the hard drugs were consumed throughout the night before the hunting incident, which would have impaired his judgement. She said the most important rule in hunting is to know your target.

Harvin contradicted the statement about drug use, saying they stopped in the early morning hours and that this had no bearing on the hunting incident itself.

The maximum sentence Peterson could have received was six years in prison. The state asked for a longer term, but the defense asked for 90 days in prison plus probation.

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