Crime & Safety

Pickens County Man Resentenced After Guilty Plea

The State Supreme Court had reversed the man's previous conviction in September 2011

A Pickens County man has been sentenced to time served and will remain on the sex offender registry and under GPS monitoring for the remainder of his life.

Thomas Edward Jennings, 72, of Central, pleaded guilty on Thursday to two counts of committing a lewd act upon a child under the age of 16.

Jennings previously was convicted of the same charges on Dec. 17, 2009 and was sentenced to serve eight years and nine months, followed by three years probation, according to the 13th Circuit Solicitor's Office.

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On Sept. 19, 2011, the state Supreme Court reversed the previous decision and remanded the case for retrial due to evidentiary issues.

By the time that Jennings had been released, he had already served 678 days of the sentence. Under the old law, Jennings would only have had to serve a quarter of that sentence before his release.

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Evidence presented by the Solictor's Office established that Jennings had inappropriately touched two children between the ages of 5 and 9, between June 14, 2005 and June 14, 2006.


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