Florence, S.C.-The shocking saga of the brutal murder of the owner and manager of Gardner’s Fertilizer and Farm Supplies at Hartsville (GM April 13, 2009) has been brought to a close more than two years later with a surprise guilty plea and sentencing to life in prison without possibility of parole of the man accused of the crime. Last month, Eddie Anthony Huggins, 39, who has been in custody since Oct. 2, 2008, abruptly entered a guilty plea at what was supposed to be a routine motion hearing and status conference in Florence to the axe handle murder of Keith Hancock at Gardner’s Fertilizer. Huggins was sentenced in general sessions court by Judge Michael Nettles in a case in which the state was expected to seek the death penalty at a trial scheduled to begin this month.
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