A Berkeley County jury has convicted a Goose Creek man of murder for fatally shooting his fiancée’s father in the family’s front yard during a 2023 domestic dispute, and a circuit court judge has now sentenced him to 45 years in prison. Joshua Scott-Lee Butler was found guilty of murder, possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, and pointing and presenting a firearm at a person, following an altercation that began inside the home of Earl Goodwater and spilled outside before Butler opened fire.
According to WCIV, Butler and his fiancée arrived at her parents’ home around 10 p.m. on May 13, 2023. After entering the home to retrieve their child, his fiancée called her father for help. Prosecutors say Butler had already struck his fiancée in the face, causing swelling and a cut inside her mouth, in an assault that happened in front of the couple’s young daughter. When Goodwater told his daughter to leave that boy alone, the confrontation escalated: Butler retrieved a 9mm handgun, put Goodwater in a headlock while holding the loaded weapon, and pointed the firearm at another witness, who told him, “I’m not afraid to die.”
The struggle moved from inside the residence to the front yard of the Goodwater family home in the St. James Estates neighborhood, on the 100 block of Westminster Boulevard, according to the Post and Courier. Berkeley County Sheriff’s deputies determined that a physical struggle over the handgun left Goodwater fatally wounded and Butler with a gunshot wound to his own arm. A single shot struck Goodwater in the right cheek below the cheekbone, and his death was likely instantaneous, the outlet reported. Butler then fled the scene with his 4-year-old daughter before deputies arrested him a short time later when he returned.
A Father Who Stepped in to Protect His Family
Earl David Goodwater was 53 years old, a crane operator with the South Carolina Ports Authority, and a married father of six children and grandfather to seven, per his obituary details reflected in the case record. Assistant Solicitor Michelle Hart, who prosecuted the case for the Ninth Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office, said in a statement that Goodwater stepped up to protect his daughter and grandchildren. Hart said Butler had already assaulted Goodwater’s daughter, then chose to arm himself and return to the house rather than walk away…