Murder indictment for inmate

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A man serving time for attempted murder in Tennessee is one of two men indicted this week in connection with a 2005 slaying in South Charleston.
A Kanawha County grand jury handed up murder indictments Monday against 23-year-old Hubert Lee Scruggs -- known also as Lee Hubert "Lee Lee" Mitchell -- and 28-year-old Thomas Drew Bess in connection with the shooting death of 27-year-old Brandon Greene in front of a South Charleston nightclub on Aug. 14, 2005.

In April, Scruggs was sentenced to 12 years in prison in for attempted murder after shooting another man four times outside a nightclub in Kingsport, Tenn. Prosecutors say the circumstances were similar to the Greene shooting.

Authorities believe Greene was standing outside the Club Mystique about 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 14, 2005, when he was approached by Scruggs and Bess. Witnesses told police Greene and Scruggs had been talking right before the shooting.

Although no witnesses reported seeing who pulled the trigger, some told investigators they thought Bess and Scruggs had set Greene up for the shooting, assistant county prosecutor Dan Holstein said. Greene died at CAMC General Hospital of gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen.

The investigation into Greene's death has been hampered by conflicting statements by witnesses and delays in getting information to prosecutors. Holstein said he did not get detailed transcripts of witness and police statements from the South Charleston Police Department until June.

Holstein recently interviewed additional witnesses in the case. Prosecutors also tried to interview Scruggs in prison.

There is also evidence to suggest that Greene may have had a gun when he was killed. After the shooting, police found a broken piece of a handgun grip, the base of a pistol magazine and a magazine spring. Greene had a cut on his hand that might have been caused by the butt of a pistol.

If Greene had a gun, he never got a chance to use it, Holstein said. Prosecutors don't believe Greene was shot in self-defense.

Teresa Johnson, Greene's grandmother, has been pushing police and prosecutors to resolve the case for four years. She was happy to find out about the indictments.

"It's such a relief," Johnson said Monday. "It's been four long years."

When she learned of the impending indictments, Johnson said, "It seemed like those four years just lifted."

"God moves in his own time," she said. "Things happen when the time is right."

Bess was being held without bond at the South Central Regional Jail on Monday. Prosecutors expect to extradite Scruggs to face trial in West Virginia.