Suspect in Sumter man's shooting death curses at judge, spits at bond hearing

Bond denied due to being a flight risk, judge says

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The first appearance hearing for Anthony Dustin Dill, who is accused of helping hide the body of a 31-year-old Sumter man, ended sooner than expected when he left the courtroom shouting obscenities at the judge on Wednesday.

"His performance speaks volumes," Magistrate Judge Larry Blanding said after Dill's outburst at Sumter-Lee Regional Detention Center.

The incident started when Dill, 32, of Bell Road in Mayesville, began talking during the hearing about how he ended up in law enforcement's custody. 

Blanding told him he would have his day in court to explain himself and that he could not speak unless prompted to do so on Wednesday.

Dill then asked if his appearance in court was just to make a mockery of him before proceeding to yell and curse at Blanding. He could also be heard spitting in the hallway on the way back to his cell. 

Blanding continued the hearing after Dill left the room and denied bond — charged with accessory after the fact — saying he is a potential flight risk for already attempting to avoid law enforcement. Dill will have a bond hearing at the Sumter County Judicial Center on June 8. 

"That's not the smartest thing to do in front of a judge," said Ken Bell, public information officer for the Sumter County Sheriff's Office, who was present during the hearing.

Dill let his temper get the best of him, and that's going to make it harder for him down the road when it comes time for another hearing, he said, because other officers and judges could see him as a risk.

Three other co-defendants — Kimberly McFaddin McLeod, 36, of Bay Blosson Avenue in Sumter, Andrew Thomas Scurry, 36, of U.S. 15 South in Sumter, and Lisa Avins, 57, of Pinewood Road in Sumter — are also charged with accessory after the fact for concealing and twice moving the body of Jerry Lamars Johnson, which was found in Lake Marion on April 25 after he was reported missing the day before.

Sumter County Sheriff Anthony Dennis said Johnson had been shot multiple times and that his body had been buried at two locations in Sumter before it was put in the lake. A fisherman found the body in Orangeburg County.

A fifth suspect, 31-year-old Stephen Wayne Stinnette, of Pinewood Road in Sumter, has been charged with murder. Stinnette is the son of Avins.

Bond was also denied for Dill's four co-defendants, who were all arrested last week. Dill had been on the run since and turned himself in after a press conference and social media circulated his photo.