ANDERSON COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – The man convicted of killing his father and later a first grader at an Upstate school has been granted an amendment to his sentence of life in prison.
On Friday a judge agreed to grant Jesse Osborne, who was previously given a life sentence without parole for the 2016 shooting at Townville Elementary School, a modified sentence of two, 75-year sentences for two counts of murder.
The amended sentence is still effectively the same as a life sentence, but will open the door to Osborne to participate in certain programs offered by the state department of corrections.
In 2018 Osborne pleaded guilty to killing his father, then driving to Townville Elementary School where he shot and killed a first grade student and injured others. In 2019 he was sentenced to life in prison for the crimes.
Osborne went to court in May to ask a judge to reduce his sentence from life to a stay of between 40 and 55 years.
“My evil actions hurt their lives and took away two,” Osborne said in May. “I’m just going to try to better myself at the Department of Corrections for the rest of my life.”
The judge denied the request for a shorter sentence, writing Osborne still had not come to terms with the crimes he committed at Townville Elementary school, though he has done so for the murder of his father. The judge also said Osborne isolated himself in his cell and declined mental health treatment offered by the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
“For these reasons as well as the courts reasons articulated at the time of the original sentence, the court denies defendant’s motion to the extent he seeks a sentence of less than life but grants defendants motion for a numerical sentence (which is effectively still a life sentence),” read the order from the judge.
