The Journal. - Camp Swamp Road Ep. 4: That’s What Heaven Is For

Episode Date: October 5, 2025

For more than two years, Jennifer Foley has been an advocate for her brother Scott Spivey. But to get the criminal investigation into his death reopened, Jennifer has to convince some of the most powerful leaders in South Carolina that this was not a Stand Your Ground case. WSJ’s Valerie Bauerlein reports. Read the Reporting: Police Say He Killed in Self-Defense. His Phone Tells Another Story. ‘You’re Taken Care of’: Did Police Promise to Shield a Killer?  Nobody Suspected Police Shielded a Killer Until the Dead Man’s Sister Dug In Follow the Story: Camp Swamp Road Playlist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A word of warning. This series contains descriptions of violence and strong language, including unbleeped curse words. Please be advised. Previously, on Campsfomp Road. And there they were. What? The 90 phone calls. All these officers are saying, we're fine.

They're saying they keep telling each other, this is cut and dry. This is cut and dry. I was working. I was in the shadows last. That's not. I weren't there, but I was in chat. I chased him. Oh, I was on his ass, and his truck couldn't outrun my truck. And he knew it. So, yeah, he was terrified. No one listened to these, and then no one to stand in front of my family and say,

we looked at all the evidence. And we've come to this conclusion. For more than two years, Jennifer Foley's been an advocate for her brother, Scott Spivey, and she says she wants accountability for his killers, Weldon Boyd and Bradley Williams. Boyd and Williams deny any wrongdoing. With a discovery of 90 phone calls in the police file, Jennifer found a window into Weldon Boyd's mind, but she also stumbled across evidence of corruption within the Orey County Police Department. In early March 2025, Jennifer's lawyer, Mark Tinsley notified Ory County Police about the calls. They quickly opened an internal investigation. The first dominoed fall was deputy chief Brandon Strickland. Strickland and Boyd had talked

over the phone multiple times in the hours and days after the shooting. In the calls, Strickland seems to be offering help to Boyd, saying he had the right people coming. Strickland had been a rising star on the force, on track becoming chief of police. But just days after the Ory County Police Department found out that the calls existed, Strickland was forced to retire. Strickland's lawyer, Bert von Herman, said his client didn't know he was being recorded and regrets the tone of some of his comments. The lawyer added, quote, there's a huge difference between public corruption and poor taste. But there was more, a lot more. Beyond the calls between Strickland and Boyd, the police file contained hours of body cam and dash cam footage.

from Camp Swamp Road. And that footage revealed that Brandon Strickland wasn't the only officer trying to help Weldon Boyd on the night of the shooting. You dumb ass. That's Sergeant Damon Viscovy. Remember him? He's the officer who helped manage the crime scene.

Get your car out of the way now. Around 40 minutes after Viscovy arrives at Camp Swamp Road, he makes a phone call. We don't know who he's talking to. Hey, are you coming to? up here? Well, you suck. Um, who is, who you're sending? Watching Viscovy's body cam, you can see he standing next to his cruiser with the door open. Right after he hangs up the phone, he scribbles something down on a notepad out of view.

Viscovy picks up the notepad and flips it around. As the pages flick by, his body cam catches what he wrote. The message is almost impossible to see until you slow the footage down, way down, frame by frame, written, in all caps, act like a victim, camera. Viscovy takes his note and walks over to Boyden Williams, who are sitting on the back of Boyd's trailer. Viscovy stands in front of them with a notepad. He says nothing. Boyd and Williams look up at him. Boyd's eyes go wide.

I was like, you're kidding me. It just keeps getting more and more absurd. When she was made aware of the act like a victim note, Jennifer was shocked. How can these people live with themselves? How can they go home at night and look at themselves in the mirror and say, I did a good job today?

My job is to protect and serve, and I did a daggone good job today. Over a year ago, the state attorney general's office closed their file on the Scott Spivey case. Jennifer wants it reopened. To her, all these examples of police corruption, the Brandon Strickland calls, and now the Viscovy note, they proved that there was a miscarriage of justice. But not everyone in law enforcement will see it that way. I'm Valerie Borlein, and this is Camp Swamp Road, a series from The Journal. Coming up, our last episode, episode four, that's what heaven is for.

With the RBC Avion visa, you can book any airline, any flight, any time. So start ticking off your travel list. Grand Canyon? Grand. Great Barrier Reef? Great. Galapagos? Galapagos? Switch and get up to 55,000 avion points that never expire. Your idea of never missing out happens here. Conditions apply. Visit rbc.com slash avion.

All right, so good afternoon. I wanted to welcome you all here to discuss a news release. On April 30th of this year, ORI County Police Chief Chris Linhart held a press conference. Ory County Police Department has terminated a patrol division sergeant as part of an ongoing internal affairs investigation related to employee conduct in the Camp Swamp road shooting investigation from September of 2023. The act like a victim note was first found by an investigative

journalist with Luna Shark Media, a podcast company based in South Carolina. After the note was discovered, Sergeant Viscovy was quickly fired. Effective April 30th, 2025, Paul Damon Viscovy is no longer an employee of Orie County.

And then, just days after Viscove was fired, Chief Lennhart held yet another press conference. We have discovered last week, seven additional videos that were improperly labeled. Those were reviewed and sent over to SLED as a continuation of the misconduct investigation, as well as our internal affairs investigation to conduct. Lenhart said three Ori County police officers were facing disciplinary action. After hearing that some of the body and dash cam footage from Camp Swamp Road was, quote,

improperly labeled, I went deeper into the footage myself. And what I discovered was not only had there been mislabeled footage, but there was also almost two hours of footage that didn't seem to have been recorded at all. At the crime scene, right around 7 p.m., the ranking police officer gives a direction that other officers turn off their cameras. The body cams do not appear to go back on until just after 9 p.m. When asked why the officers were told to turn off their cameras, the Orie County Police Department didn't respond. Beyond the internal investigation, a state level investigation is launched into official misconduct within the ORI County Police Department. What had started as an open and shut case of self-defense was now turning into a full-blown crisis.

A fatal road rage incident involving 33-year-old Scott Spivey is under renewed scrutiny after an audio recording came to life. Phone call recordings we recently obtained and played for you last night reveal conversations between the shooter and his... Over a year and a half after Scott Spivey was killed, corruption in the Ory County Police Department had become headline news statewide. Chief Lennhart says the ORI County Police Department now has three investigators that will work on the Spivey case every day to review any misconduct and policy violations by the

police department. And on TikTok, people are debating the finer points of the Spivey case. Scott Spivey was killed in a stand-your-ground self-defense case, or at least that's what they called it initially. At what point do they think that maybe Spivey feared for his life? was trying to get away. Act like a victim, camera. Google the name Weldon Boyd.

Go on Facebook and search up the name Weldon Boyd. Weldon Boyd took to Facebook. He posted what he called a press release on the page of his restaurant, Boys on the Boulevard. In it, he wrote, quote, Enough is Enough with the lies, conspiracy of politicians, family court attorneys, the shooter's attorneys, and TikTokers.

who seek to profit from misinformation. I've remained compliant and silent throughout investigations and a civil suit motivated by money. When did the momentum, when did you start to feel it shifting? When I felt like everybody started saying, this isn't right.

And they started being very vocal about it. And they were like, what can we do? Like, people are reaching out saying, what can we do? South Carolina Highway 9, headed straight towards a northern state light. Feelings about this case have run high in Orie County. A song has even been written about Scott Spivey by a musician from the area. Fire and rounds in his bag

Make you feel like a man In response to the public outrage, the Ory County Council invited Jennifer to speak at one of its meetings. Next up is Jennifer Foley If I mispronounce that, I apologize. The council wanted to hear what she had to say and so did the public.

The chamber is packed. Good evening. Before I again, can I ask if you don't mind everyone that is here for Scott tonight if you allow them to stand up to see the support? Would you mind that before I get started? I believe we're saying there by the only following us. I don't think if I would have done. The council members watch as almost the entire room stands up. The words hanging over the door of Worre County Police Department reads professionals at work for you. These words carry a hollow meaning for my family. Jennifer speaks for several minutes, laying out everything that her family experienced at the hands of the Orie County Police Department, including the way they treated her brother's body.

Scott was left in his truck in 77-degree heat for six hours, sealed up and towed across County to have his body drug out on the ground stripped and photographed in the impound lot. Jennifer tells the council what she heard in Weldon Boy's phone calls, that this wasn't a standard. your ground case. Right from the beginning, M-Boy's own admission in his tape to his mother, between me and you, Mama. Yes, Scott knew he was being followed. He just ran me off the road, and I was like, F that guy, and I chased him. I was on his ass, and his truck couldn't outrun mine, and Scott knew it. Scott was terrified. Those are his ones. Imagine being chased down and somebody telling you that this is a stand-your-ground case. Jennifer implores the council to ask the governor of South Carolina to appoint an independent prosecutor.

All we have ever wanted was the truth, and we will continue to advocate for Scott's case to be reopened with a thorough investigation by an honest prosecutor who is willing to actually review all the evidence, apply South Carolina's laws to the actions of that day. When she finishes her speech, the crowd gives Jennifer a standing ovation. And I pray that you all sleep tonight knowing that no blind eye can be turned to Scott Spivey anymore. Thank you. Thank you, man. Hold on a minute. Just over a year earlier, the South Carolina Attorney General's office had closed the Spivey case. Jennifer and her family had been alone and calling for the case to be re-overed.

Now, with the discovery of the phone calls and the corruption at the ORI County Police Department, the spivies were gaining new allies. I firmly believe this was not a stand-your-ground situation. Lucas Atkinson is a state legislator whose district includes part of O'Rea County. I spoke to him in a coffee shop not far from Camp Swamp Road. No matter what the law says in this. I mean, that's just my opinion. If it's not standing your ground, what is it? I mean, I think it was just murder.

Let's say I have a gun on my side. We argue, I turn around and leave. Can you sit there and chase me eight miles down the road and just we get out and you shoot and kill me? I mean, I just, hard for me to believe, you know. It's just hard for me to believe that. Lucas is one of non-state legislators who wrote a letter to Henry McMaster, the governor of South Carolina.

The group asked the governor to reopen the case, saying, quote, many of our constituents believe the incident was prematurely deemed self-defense. I've known Henry McMaster for a long time. I first met him years ago when I was a state politics reporter in Columbia, the capital of South Carolina. Governor McMaster hadn't formally responded to the lawmaker's letter about the Spivey case, and I wanted to find out why. Governor.

You again, huh? Hey. You're looking good. You as well. It's so good to see you. I met up with Governor McMaster in July. We sat down in plus chairs in an ornate library inside the governor's mansion. At McMaster's feet was his English bulldog, Mac. Is this the right chair to be sitting in?

Oh, you ain't taking a picture, aren't? No, this is a podcast. A podcast? Podcast. I asked about the law at the center of this story. South Carolina's standard ground law was an experience. expansion of pre-existing self-defense laws. It removed the duty to retreat when a person is in fear for their life and in a place where they have the right to be, including their vehicle.

Governor McMaster was a state attorney general in 2006 when the law was enacted. Were you a supporter of it? Sure. Why? You ought to be able to stand your ground. Somebody's pushing you around. I mean, I know you turn the other cheek and those kind of things, but How far do you have to run? Do you have to keep running if they keep coming? I think it's very reasonable. The governor told me that the way stand-your-ground is being interpreted in the Spabby case

raises some serious questions. It would be an unusual circumstance to have a law that's intended to do something good that could be used for such an injustice. But I don't know the facts. I can't say who's right or who's wrong. I think there's some questions. I think they're entitled to some answers.

I don't know if we'll get them. I think they're entitled. It's not the governor's role to reopen this case or appoint a special prosecutor. But Governor McMaster does have a powerful voice in South Carolina, and he could put pressure on law enforcement to look at the criminal case again. So far, he hasn't done that.

However, he does have a few words for the Spivey family. I'm sorry the whole thing happened. I mean, you got a dead man for no good reason. That's not good. And they'll never get over it. This case, this incident, it's dead. incident, its death, is a tragedy. It seems like we just, we're full of tragedies.

I wish we had lives without tragedies. That's what heaven's for. Ultimately, Governor McMaster says that the decision to reopen the Spivey case isn't his to make. That decision lies with South Carolina's Attorney General. I speak to him next. This episode is brought to by Tron Aries. For the first time the captivating world of Tron breaks out of the grid. Aries, a highly advanced program, journeys into our world on a dangerous mission,

marking humankind's first encounter with AI beings, featuring an electrifying original soundtrack by 9-inch nails, Tron Ares is a must-see movie event, filmed for IMAX and made for the big screen. Experience it only in theaters Friday. Get tickets now. The power to bring criminal charges in the Scott Spivey case rests with South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson. His office closed the case back in 2024. Wilson had said very little about Scott Spivey case. since then, but in August of this year, he released a statement. In that statement, Wilson reaffirmed

his office's original decision that what happened on Camp Swamp Road was clearly a stand-your-ground case. What was your reaction? A news reporter sent it to me, and they're like, we just got this. It was leaked to us. We just wanted to make sure you were the first one to know about it. And I read it, and I couldn't get past the second paragraph. And after that, I mean, I just laid in my kitchen floor, and I just cried hysterically. In the August statement, Wilson said, quote, if new material evidence comes to light,

whether through the ongoing civil proceedings, further investigation, or new reports to law enforcement, we are fully prepared to reevaluate the case. To Jennifer, Weldon Boyd's phone calls were new material evidence, because when Wilson's office closed the case back in 2024, no one there had actually listened to them. The recordings did not factor into their decision.

Jennifer couldn't accept that Attorney General Wilson could listen to these recordings now and stand by his original decision to not bring criminal charges. I followed Alan Wilson's career for a long time, and I also sat behind him in a courtroom for six weeks on a different case. After his statement on the spivey killing, I put in a request for an interview, and Wilson agreed to talk. Doing well. I've got about 15 or so-ish minutes, so I don't know if, I don't know if that gives you a- I won't offer any chit-chat, let's go.

Wilson is a busy man. In addition to being Attorney General, he recently launched a campaign for governor of South Carolina. He's vying to win next year's Republican primary. Why should people vote for you to be governor? Well, as the four-term attorney general, I have taken many positions in support of South Carolina's laws and defense of the Constitution. When you think about who the next governor is, the next governor is the commander of the National Guard and making tough decisions is something the governor has to do. And that is something I have had to do as attorney general. The very reason for this interview right now is to answer, to make tough decisions and then be held accountable for them. Wilson has been getting a lot of criticism for his decision not to reopen the Scott Spivey case.

That criticism is coming from voters and other elected officials, especially in Rorya County. The loudest attacks, though, are from Wilson's main opponent in the governor's race. Let's welcome your next South Carolina, America First Governor Maga Mace. South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace describes herself as, quote, Trump and High Heels. She argues that the criminal investigation into the death of Scott Spivey should be reopened.

Mace has even met with the Spivey family and posted photos with them on Facebook. In Ory County over the summer, Mace spoke at a campaign event. The Attorney General of South Carolina, who is refusing to investigate the death and the killing of Scott Spivey. And there are tapes, we know that he was.

I spoke with Nancy Mace. She believes that there was a real injustice here. And with this message, Mace is hoping to win over voters in O'Ree County. And those voters are important. O'Re is one of the biggest Republican strongholds in South Carolina. It's key to winning any statewide election. To Jennifer, it seems that Alan Wilson released the statement in August to get ahead of his opponents in the governor's race.

But when I asked the Attorney General about that, he said that the statement had nothing to do with politics. Here's the thing. The political thing to do would be to reopen this investigative file that we no longer have. It's been handed back. And to come to a different conclusion. That would be the political thing to do. We don't have any friends to reward or we don't have any enemies to punish. All we have are the facts of this case and the law. as we have. That's all we have. I wanted to ask Alan Wilson about everything that Jennifer had found and whether it factored into his decision that this is a standard ground case. I asked him about what Weldon Boyd said in his phone calls. Things quickly got tense. As you know, well, from these calls, Mr. Boyd has said,

I was on his ass. I was chasing him. He was terrified. He couldn't outrun me. Does that point? Does that matter? Well, first off, the statements, first off, I think the statements are reprehensible. But Mr. Boyd said, when did Mr. Boyd say that? He said that within 48 hours of the death. He said it in some of his recorded calls. So, yes, he said that. He's telling you his own, that's the closest we can get to his state of mind. Actually, you're incorrect. The closest we can get to Mr. Boyd's state of mind is what he's saying in real time on 911, when he's actually involved, when he's following, after he has just been run off the road by Mr. Spivey. Hey, I've got a guy pulling a gun at me driving.

We're armed as well. He keeps throwing the gun in our faces. I don't like he's about to shoot us. If he keeps this up, I'm going to shoot him. We have his state of mind as he is talking to the 911 operator. So that 911 call that occurred prior to the shooting is relevant to going to Mr. Boyd's state of mind. I didn't do it. I was talking to my friend.

We're trailering couches. And this dude just, my buddy's like, what the fuck? And he's got a gun hanged out of next to us. All the witnesses, you're talking about everything leading up to that moment in time, was multiple witnesses, including Mr. Boyd, describing an erratic driver. He's all over the road, and I have his license plate number. Okay. Okay, he's waving the gun right now.

He's waving it out the window at everybody. I don't know if he's under the influence of anything, because he's all over the road. the multiple eyewitnesses that witnessed the same thing Mr. Boyd is telling the 911 operator that corroborate Mr. Boyd's version of the facts go to the truthfulness of what Mr. Boyd is saying. Well, let me ask you this then. Have you heard these calls? Yes, yes, I've heard these calls. And do they matter? Do they matter? The cause matter to the extent that you have to, what was Mr. Boyd's intent at the time of the shoot?

I mean, what was his state of mind at the time of shooting? What was his intent? According to Wilson's interpretation of South Carolina's stand-your-ground law, the only thing that matters is Boyd's state of mind when he pulled the trigger. And Wilson says the only relevant phone calls that reflect that state of mind are the ones made to 911. Now, if Mr. Boyd's statements were something to the effect of, I was going to get that guy, I've been trying to kill him for several days, and we planned this whole thing. That's different.

But him... But it was, and forgive me. for saying this, it was I had a fucking blast. I enjoyed it. I mean, doesn't that, doesn't that belie him being in fear of his life? The horrible statements, reprehensible. But the, and that is evidence that somebody might want to use to make that argument you're making. You know, Mr. Boyd had a legal right to be on the road. Mr. Boyd even had a legal right to perform a citizen's arrest. I'm not saying it would have been good judgment, but what I'm saying is, is at the point of the shooting. And I'm going to paraphrase the stander ground law. But the stander ground law says that

if you are somewhere, you have a lawful right to be. And while you were there, you believe that someone means to cause you imminent harm or death. You are allowed under the law to meet force with force, okay? And including deadly force. And did Mr. Boyd have a right to be on that public road? legally he did. Did Mr. Boyd, based on the evidence that we currently have, did he appear to be in fear imminently of his life being ended? He said that multiple times to the 911 operator. I also wanted to ask Wilson about misconduct within the Ory County Police Department.

When we get to that, Wilson says that whatever the police did, it's irrelevant to whether this was stand or ground. Two things can be true at once. law enforcement does something bad or is incompetent at their job? I don't know what the answer will be. But does that change the facts of what Mr. Boyd perceived and all those motorists perceived at the time that they saw Mr. Spivey get out of his car with his pistol? But those same officers were the recorder of the facts, right? They provided the 911 calls. They took the witness statements, all that sort of thing. Can we trust that evidence?

Are you asking me, can I trust a video with my own eyes? I mean, look, if there is, Here's the thing. Valerie, what are you asking me? Are you saying that if a bad cop, we take a bad cop's body cam or a 911 operator's video recording. And we say because they're bad that the video recording and the video footage is somehow tainted? But what I'm asking, Alan, is we have the deputy chief saying I have the right ones coming. We have video of an officer saying coaching Mr. Boyd on how to act. The investigation came to you in a way that is suspect. Valerie, if something changes the facts of the shooting, we're happy to review those facts in light of the facts as we've given them. Jennifer told me that she and her family had contacted Alan Wilson's office multiple times in hopes of trying to talk with him.

In our interview, Wilson said he was unaware that, they had called. He has since reached out to them. Do you have any message for them, for the family? Absolutely. I think, I think Mr. Spivey's death is tragic. I think it's horrible, and I hate that it happened. I am not, this is not a pro-boyed decision and an anti-spivey decision. This is a decision by prosecutors in my office who reviewed facts, reviewed law, applied them, made a dispassionate decision as we are required to do without any regard for politics. If that's what he's going to say, then literally every murder case in the state of South Carolina can just say, hey, I was in fear for my life, so I shot and killed him.

Jennifer is worried that Wilson's interpretation of the law could set a dangerous precedent, that there could be many more Scott Spivey's, more homicides that go uninvestigated, just because the killer said they were in fear for their life. You're literally opening up Pandora's box. It doesn't make sense. No one thinks it makes sense. So make it make sense, Alan Wilson. It doesn't make sense.

And that's my fear is that if you're saying that this is okay, get ready because you're getting ready to have a lot more cases. Because people have now they know what they can do to get away with it. In the course of my reporting, I was surprised to learn that the future that Jennifer is worried about is already here. Across America, more people are killing other people while claiming to be in fear for their life. And since I began working on the story, I've heard from other families, families in standard ground states whose loved ones were killed in shootings,

and were then told the killer wasn't charged. The more I look for these kinds of cases, the more I found. The driver of the car shot him telling police he feared for his life. Like the family of Carson Seinfeld, who was shot after he tried to get into the wrong parked car on his birthday. His family believes Seinfeld thought the car was an Uber. The shooter who has not been named says he feared for his life. He will not face charges under Florida's standard ground law. Or in Kentucky, where a man named Walter Trebord.

Trubolo was shot and killed in his driveway by a next-door neighbor. Trubolo's family says they've been locked out of the police investigation. And then I went up to him and I asked him why. Why? Why did you do this? Why did you kill my son? Answers she may not get because no one has been charged. Or in Utah, where a family is looking for answers after Patrick Hayes was shot and killed in a broad rage incident.

The killer has not been charged in connection with. with the shooting. This guy tried to hit him twice with his truck, and then rolls down his window to shoot him, and then he's claiming self-defense. After hearing about these cases, I wanted to find out what broader impact standard-ground laws have had on national homicide rates.

Just last year, the RAND Corporation published an in-depth analysis of academic research into standard-ground laws. The journal talked with the co-author of that report, who said that researchers found that there has been a significant increase and gun homicides since these statues were enacted. Another assessment put a figure on it.

The 28 states with standard ground laws have raised the number of homicides nationally by as much as 700 gun deaths a year. Many of these killings go uninvestigated and killers walk away without charges. These cases have become so much more frequent that gun owners are now able to buy insurance that will cover their legal expenses

if they kill in self-defense. It's known as murder insurance. An estimated two million Americans have signed up for it. Jennifer Foley had hoped the new evidence she uncovered would convince powerful people in South Carolina to reopen the criminal investigation. That isn't happening. Now her only recourse is a wrongful death lawsuit in civil court.

The next step is a hearing expected to happen later this year. A judge will decide whether Weldon Boyd and Bradley Williams were really acting in self-defense when they killed Scott Spivey. So what are the stakes in this hearing? And what's the best case scenario for you and what's the worst? Best case scenario is that the judge says that he doesn't believe that this qualifies for stand your ground because they brought the difficulty onto themselves. Worst case scenario, the judge says, nope, this is stand your ground.

and they receive immunity, which means they get criminal and civil immunity. My wrongful death case is dismissed. You know, it squashes everything. At that hearing, Judge Eugene C. Bubba Griffith, Jr. will hear from witnesses. Throughout my reporting, I have spoken to witnesses who saw what happened leading up to the shooting on Camp Swamp Road. But I've determined that the only three people who actually saw the whole thing were Boyd, Williams,

and Scott Spivey. For several months, I've wanted to interview Boyden Williams, but my request had been denied through their legal team, at least until after the hearing is over. In August, however, someone from their side did agree to talk to me. Tell us your name and what you do. Well, Morgan, Morgan Martin, I am an attorney of some 45 years probably. Morgan Martin represents Bradley Williams.

He stepped in to help Williams other lawyer, a man named Robert E. Lee, the third. When I spoke to Morgan, he wanted to tell me about his client and his client's friend. Let me say this. Bradley, Kenneth Bradley Williams, he's a hardworking, great American young man. He's the soul of the earth. He's married. He's got a child. He works hard every day.

He's quiet. He's a quiet guy. and when I met him, I like him. And I believe that he was clearly acting in self-defense. And so I want to defend him. And what about Weldon Boy? How would you describe him? Well, I don't know Weldon as well, but I think Weldon's a fine young man from what I can see.

He's worked hard. He's a business owner there in North Myrtle Beach. Morgan will be the lead lawyer for the defense team during the hearing. and he makes the same argument that Attorney General Alan Wilson makes. Some of the statements that I heard particularly that Mr. Boyd made are unfortunate, and, you know, they've been better off if those comments probably had not been made. But I'll say again that that doesn't change the facts of what happened in this case. To Morgan, everything that Jennifer uncovered simply isn't relevant to the civil case.

and he feels the same way about the police corruption, including to act like a victim note. I'm not sure why that was done, why anybody felt there was a need for that to be done, and I'm not here to defend nor prosecute the Ulry County Police Department and the person of Brandon Strickland or anybody else. In this case, the fact, from the wound to the tune,

from the beginning to the end, lead conclusively to the finding that this is a stand-your-ground case. And that's why, you know, I'll be so glad when we get out of the podcast world with due respect to you and into the courtroom so we can try this case. For Jennifer, everything rests on that hearing. That's what the spiveys are focused on right now. I'm afraid that I'm going to continue to be met with walls. And that I will be stoned wild and there will be nothing left that I can do

because they have taken every avenue away from me. Beyond all the politics and all the questions about legal statutes and immunity, there is a dead man. And despite all the work Jennifer has done to be a brother's voice in this case, she still doesn't know why he acted the way he did on September 9th, 2023.

It's a question that's dogged my reporting. Why did Scott Spivey, a man who, according to his family, wouldn't start a fight, brandish a gun on the highway. Why did he break check Weldon Boyd? You know, we won't ever know what started, what happened on September 9th.

have no idea. Don't know if we'll ever know. We know how it ended. And it just doesn't... Was Scott a perfect person? No, we none are. I mean, we all have our flaws, and we all know that, you know,

that sometimes we reach our limits and things, but it just was hard for us to think that this was just a normal day for Scott. Like, this isn't something, this was out of his character. I don't know. It just doesn't make sense. Jennifer says that even if her brother did do something wrong in that moment, he didn't deserve to die.

I see my mama struggle every day with losing her child. So this isn't just about me advocating for my brother. I'm advocating for my mama's son. He was somebody that was loved. He was somebody, he was a United States citizen who had the same freedoms and liberties as everybody else. He deserved to have due process. My family deserved to have due process. Have you been able to grieve?

No. You can't grieve if you're always fighting. There's no, you can't go through those steps. The steps don't exist. And there's, you're doing nothing but fighting. There's times I break down because I think. Especially at night, like, I get out my car and I look out of the sky and I'm like, I see all the stars up there and I'm just, I don't know, for some reason it just hits me that.

I look up, I look up the stars and I say, baby, I'm so sorry this happened to you. why did this have to happen to you? Why can't people do the right thing? It should be the easiest thing you can do. But for some, it's so hard. It's the hardest thing. Camp Swamp Road is part of the journal,

which is a co-production of Spotify and the Wall Street Journal. I'm Valerie Borlein. Our producers, Heather Rogers. Our senior producer is Rachel Humphreys. Editing by Colin McNulty. Additional reporting in this episode from Mark Miramont. Special thanks to Catherine Brewer, Miguel Bustillo,

Alexandra Citrin Safadi, Sam Enriquez, Pia Gari, Carlos Garcia, Addie Gray, Matt Kwong, Jennifer Levitts, Caroline Leight, Josh Locke, Ava Lubel, Corey McConnell, Jessica Mendoza, Annie Menoff, Bruce Orwell, Angela Owens, Falana Patterson, Sarah Platt, Cam Pollock, Griffin Tanner, Nikki Walker, and the entire Journal podcast team. Fact-checking by Nicole Posulka. Music, Sound Design, and Mixing by Nathan Singapot. Additional music by Peter Leonard and Alex Rogers Music. Our theme music is by So Wiley, remixed for the series by Nathan Singapok. Thanks for listening, and stay tuned.

We plan on following this story over the coming weeks and months. Keep an eye out for updates in the Wall Street Journal and the journal podcast feed. Thank you.