Order grants summary judgement to defendants

An order filed last week in the Oconee Commons Pleas Court is an official end to a lawsuit filed by a Columbia area man who was tried for the murder of a Seneca taxi driver and found not guilty. After being exonerated in criminal court, Lloyd Lash pursued a civil claim against the Seneca police and Detective Rory Jones. Judge Lawton McIntosh granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the civil case “as to all causes of action.” Ten and a half years ago, cab driver Butch Roberts was shot to death in his cab in Seneca’s Bruce Hill community. In 2011, Lash was found not guilty on all charges in a four-day trial in Walhalla. Two years later, he sued the police and Jones alleging malicious prosecution, among other grounds. But McIntosh’s order reads: “The Court finds the statute of limitations ran prior to the filing of the Plaintiff’s Complaint on all causes except malicious prosecution. Furthermore, the Court finds that the Defendants are entitled to summary judgment as to all causes of action, including malicious prosecution, based upon the existence of probable cause to arrest, detain and try the Plaintiff. Additionally, the Court finds that the Plaintiff’s claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress is barred by the South Carolina Torts Claim Act.” The Roberts’ homicide case remains unsolved today.