Westminster Man Pleads Guilty In General Sessions Court To Child Abuse And Manslaughter Charges
A Westminster man pled guilty in General Sessions Court in Walhalla late last week on charges of Great Bodily Injury to a Child and no contest to Voluntary Manslaughter. Matthew Jason Chappell was sentenced to a total sentence of 40 years and will not be eligible for parole.
On November 21st of 2017, deputies from the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office responded to Chappell’s residence in regards to a three year old child that had been injured with a skull fracture that was ruled by medical professionals to be non-accidental in nature. In an unrelated incident, a second child, a 22 month old who was the sister of the three year old, had died in June of 2017 in a case where the cause of death had been ruled to be an accidental choking. After further investigation, that case was reopened by investigators. As a result of the investigation, Chappell admitted that he had picked up and dropped the 22 month old on the floor, which caused her to choke. Chappell was charged in both investigations.
In a press release issued by the 10th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, Solicitor David Wagner commended the work of Sergeant Tim Rice, the Child/Elder Abuse investigator with the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office.