Michael Pearson (SC)

The Gibbons Robbery

At approximately 6:15 a.m. on the morning of May 15, 2010, Edward “Slick” Gibbons, a prominent businessman and influential member of the local Manning community, was assaulted and robbed by three individuals who had been hiding in Gibbons’ garage while waiting for him to come home. The perpetrators attacked Gibbons, forced him to the carport floor, and wrapped duct tape around his head. Gibbons’ wallet and keys were taken. The robbers fled the scene in Gibbons’ 1987 Chevrolet El Camino, which was later found abandoned on the side of the road approximately a mile and a half from Gibbons’ residence.

The Investigation

As a result of the Clarendon County Sheriff’s Department investigation, DNA was discovered on the duct tape, and a palm and thumbprint were lifted from the back of Gibbons’ El Camino. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) analyzed the DNA swabs and concluded that it was a match for Victor Weldon. The latent prints were entered into the FBI’s Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), a national biometric database maintained by the FBI for identifying individuals using fingerprints. Although Michael Pearson’s fingerprints were already in the FBI’s fingerprint database, the system did not identify the submitted thumbprint as belonging to Mr. Pearson. A Sumter Police Department officer then manually compared the thumbprint to “persons of interest” and concluded it was a match to Michael Pearson.

The Trial

Michael Pearson was arrested because of the thumbprint match, and Victor Weldon was arrested based on DNA on the duct tape.  Both men were tried together in 2012. Although the primary evidence against them was the DNA and thumbprint identification, prosecutors also argued the men knew each other because of an overlap in their respective participation in a vocational rehab job training program.

On May 18, 2012, the Clarendon County jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts – armed robbery, 1st degree burglary, kidnapping, grand larceny, and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Pearson and Weldon were both given sixty year sentences.

Post Conviction Proceedings

Pearson appealed his conviction to the SC Court of Appeals.  On July 30, 2014, the court reversed Pearson’s convictions on the grounds of insufficiency of the evidence, noting there was no evidence regarding how or when the print was made. The State appealed the decision to the SC Supreme Court, which reinstated the convictions and sentences. Weldon’s initial appeal was unsuccessful. However, in 2016, he filed a Post Conviction Relief Application, which, after much litigation, resulted in Weldon being granted a new trial in 2022.

2023 Revelations

In January of 2023, while Weldon was awaiting his new trial, an investigator who had initially investigated the 2010 robbery came to see Weldon, asking about his plans for a new trial. Weldon informed the investigator he planned to proceed with the new trial. Not long after that meeting, Weldon’s attorney presented Weldon with a negotiated plea offer for a substantially reduced sentence conditioned upon Weldon providing full, truthful information about the robbery.

During the ensuing interrogations, including passing a polygraph test, Weldon admitted to his participation in the robbery, named his compatriots, and consistently denied that Pearson had anything to do with the robbery. In June of 2023, based on his truthful statements, Weldon was allowed to plead guilty to armed robbery, 1st degree burglary, and grand larceny in return for the 18-year sentence he was promised, a decrease of 42 years.

Through the Clarendon County Sheriff Department’s continued investigation, Pearson passed a polygraph while proclaiming his innocence, and one of the true perpetrators gave a confession and also insisted that Pearson was innocent. 

NCCAI’s Involvement

Michael Pearson applied to NCCAI in April 2023.  As part of our investigation, we contacted Victor Weldon and asked if he would meet with our office about the case.  Weldon agreed and wrote that he did not know Pearson, Pearson was innocent, and he had already told law enforcement and the solicitor’s office of Mr. Pearson’s innocence.  Through additional investigation, NCCAI learned of the additional evidence of innocence that was known by the Solicitor’s Office.

After the Solicitor learned of NCCAI’s involvement, he agreed to vacate the convictions if Mr. Pearson agreed not to live in Clarendon County and to waive his right to civil suit.  Mr. Pearson declined to waive any rights after 15 years of wrongful incarceration, and the Solicitor rescinded his offer.  After protracted litigation and facing allegations of ethical violations, the Solicitor eventually agreed to vacate the convictions, and Mr. Pearson walked to freedom on August 28, 2025.  Despite the fact that there was no logical or legal reason not to dismiss the charges that day, Michael was denied complete exoneration until the charges were dismissed on September 8, 2025. 

Michael was welcomed in freedom by his loving family, who are providing support through his reentry.  We will be right behind them, doing all we can. 

* The work on this case was funded in part by a grant from the SC Bar Foundation.