## Facts

- John Bennett Fennell, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, participated in a civic club’s fundraising program and took responsibility for servicing and depositing proceeds from candy boxes placed in local stores.
- Fennell had a dispute with fellow club member William R. Thrailkill concerning an empty candy box, and the disagreement continued at a later club meeting in a restaurant.
- At the restaurant, after Thrailkill refused to discuss the issue and made a remark that angered Fennell, Fennell left the room, retrieved a .38-caliber revolver from his car, returned, and stated he was going to kill Thrailkill.
- Fennell fired multiple shots at Thrailkill, striking him five times; Thrailkill later died from complications caused by the gunshot injuries.
- A bystander, Elihue Armstrong, was struck by a bullet and injured but survived; Fennell stated he did not intend to injure Armstrong.
- Fennell was indicted for murder (Thrailkill) and assault and battery with intent to kill (ABIK) (Armstrong).
- A jury found Fennell guilty but mentally ill on both counts; the trial court imposed life imprisonment for murder and 20 years’ imprisonment for ABIK.

## Issues

1. Whether the doctrine of transferred intent can support an ABIK conviction for an unintended victim who is injured when the defendant’s intended victim is actually killed.
2. Whether the defendant’s intent to kill the intended victim is “exhausted” upon completion of the homicide, preventing transfer of intent to a separate assault on an unintended victim.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of South Carolina affirmed the convictions and sentences.
- The court held that transferred intent applies even when the intended victim is killed and an unintended victim is only injured.
- The court rejected the argument that intent is “used up” once the intended victim is struck or killed.
- The court concluded that the intent and malice directed at Thrailkill could be transferred to Armstrong to satisfy the mens rea required for ABIK.

## Legal Principles

- Under transferred intent, a defendant’s intent or malice aimed at an intended victim may be attributed to harm caused to an unintended victim by the same criminal act.
- Transferred intent is not limited to scenarios where the intended victim survives and an unintended victim dies; it also applies where the intended victim dies and an unintended victim is injured.
- Intent to kill is not extinguished by the successful killing of the intended target; it may support liability for additional offenses arising from the same act that harms other victims.
- ABIK may be established through transferred intent where the defendant acts with intent to kill a target but injures an unintended bystander as a result of the shooting.

## Conclusion

The court held that Fennell’s intent to kill Thrailkill could be transferred to Armstrong to support ABIK, even though Thrailkill died and Armstrong survived, and it affirmed the guilty-but-mentally-ill verdicts and resulting sentences.


State v. Fennell, 340 S.C. 266, 531 S.E.2d 512 (S.C. 2000)