The street in St. George, S.C., where James “Jim” Bell kept his law office (via Google Maps). Inset: Jason Bell (via
First Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office).
The man accused of fatally shooting his father — a prominent local lawyer — in the head on New Year’s Eve has been sentenced to life in prison.
Jason Bell, 51, was convicted of murder in the death of his father, James “Jim” Bell, 76, solicitor David Pascoe of the First Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office in St. George, South Carolina, announced Thursday. The jury took around two hours to deliberate, Pascoe said in the announcement, and Circuit Judge Heath Taylor sentenced Jason Bell to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
According to prosecutors, Jason Bell “waited until celebratory fireworks began before shooting his sleeping father” on Jan. 31, 2020.
“The victim was shot with his own Colt .38 revolver twice on the left side of his head,” the statement said. “The elder Bell’s wife of 50 years, found him the following morning unresponsive in his recliner.”
Jason Bell initially tried to convince law enforcement that his father died by suicide.
“That theory would quickly fall apart when it was determined that a revolver found underneath the victim’s body was fired twice,” the solicitor’s statement said. “The St. George Police Department immediately interviewed the defendant where he admitted he drank an entire bottle of champagne or rum before noon on that day, removed the weapon from a drawer in the home while his parents were out for lunch, loaded the weapon, and then planned to shoot his father that evening.”
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Charleston’s Post and Courier newspaper reported that the defendant told investigators that his father had been screaming in pain in recent days and may have run out of painkillers.
Jason Bell reportedly later confessed, claiming that he killed his father out of mercy. The elder bell had suffered from pulmonary fibrosis, a respiratory illness, for which he received oxygen therapy, the Post and Courier reported. Prosecutors in court refuted this excuse.
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Jim Bell was described as a “prominent lawyer in the St. George community.” According to the Post and Courier, he practiced law in the area for nearly 50 years.
Jim Bell’s wife of 53 years, Rose Bell, spoke in court during her son’s sentencing hearing, the Post and Courier reported.
“It’s been a hard time for awhile,” she told the judge, according to the report. “The Jason that we knew is no longer the Jason who is here today.”
Jason Bell had reportedly returned to Charleston to live with his parents after serving 20 months in a North Carolina prison in connection with an armed home invasion.
“He had a wonderful personality. He had a good job as a surgical technologist in Summerville,” the convicted killer’s mother said in court. “He threw all of that away when he decided to change his life and hurt the very people who loved him the most.”
At trial, Rose Bell reportedly disputed her son’s initial account that her husband had been screaming in pain and ran out of medication.
Pascoe, the solicitor, said that the case “rocked the small, but mighty, community of St. George.”
“It has been remarkable to see how the town rallied around this family in the face of this tragedy,” Pascoe said in the statement. “We are grateful that the victim’s wife, who was also the defendant’s mother, was able to persevere and testify in this trial. Her strength is unparalleled.”
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