Staff Writer

During a bond hearing Monday, Yolanda Thompson's family and friends described her as a trustworthy dean's list college student and mother who deserves a chance to come home to her baby and pursue her education.

The father of the teen-aged cheerleader she is accused of teaming with her husband to murder painted an entirely different picture.

In an impassioned speech, Manning Jeter asked Circuit Judge John C. Hayes III to deny bond for Mrs. Thompson, who with Pernell Thompson, is accused of killing 16-year-old Marisha Jeter on Jan. 3.

Hayes agreed to take the bond request under advisement and will rule after listening to a tape of Mrs. Thompson's confession and reviewing documents in the case.

“I have listened to everything these people have had to say,” Manning Jeter told Hayes. “Yolanda will tell you that in the only conversation she and I have ever had, I told her to go home and take care of her baby and I would take care of mine. I cannot and I will not stand here and tell you that I have any remorse for Yolanda. These people say that Yolanda won't do anything to hurt nobody. Yolanda murdered my baby. Yolanda can go home to her baby. My baby can't come home. Yolanda carried my baby and threw her in the river. We looked for her for three days.”

Jeter talked as he stood before the judge with 16th Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett, Mrs. Thompson and her lawyer, Hattie Boyce. Mrs. Thompson was dressed in a tan Union County Jail issued jumpsuit, her feet and hands shackled. Her hair, braided in corn rows and held with a rubber band, was somewhat shorter than during her initial court appearances. She at times looked toward the floor as Jeter talked.

Jeter, a Union County school trustee, went on to talk about Marisha's many accomplishments, including her grades in school, winning beauty pageants and the fact that she had been chosen as an educational ambassador for South Carolina.

“My baby won't get to do any of that,” Jeter said. “Because of you. Because of Pernell.”

Jeter pointed out that Mrs. Thompson and his family are distantly related. He said the only time he had talked with Mrs. Thompson was when she came to his house in the early hours of the morning and threatened Marisha.

“I talked to her and begged her and told her, ‘Don't you have a child? What you need to do is leave my home and go take care of your child.' Instead they plotted and planned ways to get my daughter by herself and stabbed her 33 times and cut her throat and threw her in the river. Do I have any remorse for Yolanda? I do not. I think it would be very unfair for her to be released for one day from jail to do anything. I want her to serve the same sentence that my daughter is serving right now.”

Manning Jeter's brother, Lewis, told Hayes the family has endured much pain and continues to suffer. He said Mrs. Thompson has made statements that she was a willing participant in Marisha's murder and went on with her life after participating in the killing.

“The next day she went to a local school, the school where she graduated seeking her transcript,” said Lewis Jeter, who is assistant superintendent for personnel for Union County Schools. “She was getting ready to leave the state.”

For the first month after Marisha's murder, Lewis said every time he saw his mother - Marisha's grandmother - she was crying. His father was so distraught he would not eat or drink and had to be hospitalized for dehydration.

Brackett asked Hayes to deny bond for Mrs. Thompson. He said she is a flight risk and a threat to society. Brackett presented basic facts in the case to Hayes, including some information that had not been made public prior to the hearing.

Brackett said that around 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 3, Marisha Jeter told her father that she was going to make a quick trip to McDonald's. When she had not returned by 1 a.m., he called the Union Public Safety Department. Manning Jeter told law enforcement his daughter had been in a relationship with an older man and he and his wife had threatened her.

The Thompsons, who both lived on Sulphur Springs Road in Jonesville, were questioned and at first denied any knowledge of Marisha Jeter's whereabouts.

Marisha Jeter's body was found on the Chester County side of the Broad River on Jan. 5.

The Thompsons were called back for another police interview. Pernell, a 20-year-old Wingate University football player, was told that a tennis shoe print found near Marisha's body matched one of the shoes he was wearing.

“He broke down and gave a full confession implicating himself and his wife,” Brackett said.

When 19-year-old Yolanda Thompson was confronted with her husband's confession, she admitted that they had lured Miss Jeter to the Union County YMCA parking lot with the intent of killing her. Pernell convinced Miss Jeter to meet him under the guise that she was to return a jacket she had that belonged to him.

“They both overpowered her, struck her, beat her down and Yolanda said she held Marisha Jeter while her husband used a knife to kill her,” Brackett said. “The motive was her husband had been unfaithful and Pernell was going to kill Marisha in order to prove his love for Yolanda.”

Brackett said the couple put Marisha Jeter's body in the car trunk, drove to Chester County and stripped her partially naked to make it appear she had been sexually assaulted. They then took her car further into the county and burned it. Brackett said when police questioned Pernell Thompson, he still had burns on his hands he had received in the arson of the car.

The couple told law enforcement where the murder took place and officers recovered a knife and Marisha Jeter's jewelry from the location.

Brackett said he is considering seeking the death penalty in the case against the Thompsons. He said he only recently received a court-ordered mental evaluation for Mrs. Thompson and has not had time to properly review it. He also said he is consulting with Miss Jeter's family to determine their wishes. He told Hayes that kidnapping and physical torture of Marisha Jeter are aggravating circumstances in the case that would allow the state to seek the death penalty.

Mrs. Boyce asked Hayes to set a reasonable bond for Mrs. Thompson. Mrs. Boyce said Mrs. Thompson had no prior criminal record and maintains her involvement in Marisha Jeter's murder was involuntary. Mrs. Boyce also said if Mrs. Thompson is out of jail, she will be able to better help Mrs. Boyce prepare for her trial.

Mrs. Boyce said that Mrs. Thompson was a dean's list student at USC-Union who had gone to an attorney to seek a divorce from Pernell Thompson

“She is no threat to the community and she has no outside ties outside this jurisdiction,” Mrs. Boyce said.

Several friends and family members spoke on behalf of Mrs. Thompson, including her mother, Teresa Murphy; her aunt, Clorena Smith; family friend Sue Adams and former high school teacher Renee Rotondo.

Mrs. Rotondo said Mrs. Thompson was a good student involved in community service projects and she would have trusted her with her life.

“In my career as a teacher, out of the thousands of students I have taught this young lady was in the top 1 percent as far as trustworthiness, honesty and compassion for others,” she said.