The trial of a man accused of killing a Dorchester Country native and his wife is under way, according to a Florence newspaper.
The Florence Morning News reports a former Florence County deputy sheriff is on trial for the 2006 murder of his mother and her husband at their Lakewood Plantation home in Williamsburg County.
Timothy Poole is charged in a 20-count indictment with shooting and killing his mother, Linda Poole-Hilton and her husband, Henry “Bubba” Hilton Jr. to gain money from their multi-million dollar estate.
Henry Hilton was a Dorchester County native, a farmer who worked about 150 acres at the time of his death. Hilton also worked at Lakewood Plantation, which was owned by Linda Poole-Hilton’s first husband, Richard “Dick” Poole, a Charleston businessman. Richard Poole died in 2001.
Groundskeepers found the Hiltons dead at their home in Lakewood Plantation in Williamsburg County on Aug. 2, 2006.
Witnesses, including family members and Poole-Hilton’s business partner and her attorney, testified that Linda Poole-Hamilton had been increasingly concerned and upset about her son’s financial situation, to the point where she changed her will so that her husband would be the sole beneficiary. The children would benefit only if Hilton were dead, in the form of trust funds set up to allow them partial access until they reached a certain age.
Poole’s wife, Jody Ann Poole, has testified that he asked her to lie about his whereabouts the night his parents were killed. She was granted full immunity in exchange for her testimony, which she gave last week, according to the Morning News.
Poole’s trial began Feb. 22 and is still under way.