Armed robber gets 42 years for 2017 crime

Nearly five years after a Greenwood store clerk was beaten, pistol-whipped and hospitalized with severe injuries, the man responsible was sentenced to 42 years in prison.

Jameson McCarthy, 30, pleaded guilty to robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, armed robbery, criminal confinement, possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon and resisting law enforcement with a vehicle. He faced up to 68 1/2 years in prison.

The two robbery charges will run consecutive to one another and concurrent with the remaining charges. McCarthy pleaded guilty to all charges filed against him, and received the maximum sentence possible under the law, according to a Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office news release.

Johnson County Circuit Court Judge Andrew Roesener allowed McCarthy to seek treatment in prison as well as awarded him credit dating back to his first appearance on the case, according to the news release.

At the time of this offense on June 22, 2017, McCarthy had convictions for three armed robberies in 2011 in Marion County, but because those charges were all resolved at the same time, prosecutors were unable to use those convictions to allege McCarthy was a habitual offender, which could have added to his sentence. He was also charged and subsequently convicted in Marion County of attempted armed robbery on the same day as the Greenwood robbery. He is currently serving a 10-year sentence on that case, the news release said.

Police were called to the Greenwood Discount Tobacco store at U.S. 31 and Fry Road, just south of the Greenwood Park Mall, on a robbery report. Customers told police McCarthy pushed a man to the ground and demanded money from the store clerk, then wanted him to open the safe. When the clerk said he couldn’t, McCarthy pointed the gun at him and told him to fill a bag with cigarette cartons, according to the Greenwood Police Department report.

McCarthy then turned to a customer and demanded the keys to his vehicle. When the man said the keys were in his vehicle, McCarthy demanded another customer’s keys and told the first man to go outside and start the other customer’s vehicle, according to the report.

While the man was outside, he quickly yelled for someone to call 911 and went back inside where he found McCarthy beating the store clerk. The clerk, who was taken to Community Hospital South, had injuries to his eyes, the report said.

McCarthy left the store in the customer’s van and headed west on Fry Road. An officer saw the van and McCarthy swerve toward him, and a pursuit began. At some points, the driver would show the gun to police, and officers had to back off for their own safety, police said.

Police used stop sticks, which McCarthy avoided before hitting a truck and then a pole. McCarthy then began yelling at police, telling them he had a gun and would commit suicide, before climbing on top of the van, according to the report.

McCarthy was ordered to get down but did not. An officer used a Taser on McCarthy. He fell to the ground and was arrested.