Jury convicted Timothy Ray Wirtz

A Walhalla area man, Timothy Ray Wirtz, received sentences this afternoon that send him to prison for 35 years. Wirtz is 31 years old. Wirtz was found guilty on all five charges that arose from an early 2012 set of crimes that amounted to the invasion of a man’s home. The defendant gets credit for time in jail awaiting this week’s trial. To the end, Wirtz insisted that the Sheriff’s Office arrested the wrong man. And his court-appointed attorney, Delane Rosemond, told Judge Alex Macaulay that there were other individuals who should stand and account for what happened at the home on Ivy Creek Drive, near SC 11. Rosemond called that a tragedy. But Deputy Solicitor David Wagner said criminal charges are still pending against at least one other person, but the prosecutor expressed disappointment that others who may have culpability basically thumbedtheir noses at his office. The Oconee General Sessions jury today found Wirtz guilty of five charges: grand larceny, kidnapping, burglary first degree, armed robbery, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. Wirtz has a criminal record dating back 11 years. His attorney blamed the effects of methamphetamine on a man who is married and is the father of two children.