Yemassee man sentenced to 30 years in deadly mistaken-identity highway shooting

HAMPTON, S.C. (WTOC) - A Yemassee man who carried out a retaliatory but mistaken-identity shooting along a Hampton County highway in 2023, killing one man and injuring another, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Franklin Radell Smoak Jr., 27, pleaded guilty to murder earlier this month. On Thursday, he was sentenced to 30 years for the July 31, 2023, killing of Terrance Fields, along with two concurrent 30-year sentences for the attempted murder of two passengers who were inside Fields’ vehicle.

Prosecutors said the shooting was a tragic case of mistaken identity. Smoak believed he was targeting the person responsible for the death of his cousin, Kaleb Cave, who died in Varnville in April 2023. However, Cave’s suspected killer and Fields simply drove similar vehicles.

“These charges reflect the extreme danger posed by the defendants’ actions,” said Reed Evans of the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, who prosecuted the case. “The attack on Highway 68 unleashed a rain of bullets on Fields’ car, killing him and gravely wounding another passenger. Our office is committed to ensuring accountability for this violence.”

The shooting occurred as Fields was driving toward the Love’s travel stop in Yemassee on Highway 68. Witnesses inside the car said a dark sedan pulled alongside them with its headlights off before gunfire erupted.

Fields was shot in the chest and died at the scene. His front-seat passenger survived a gunshot wound to the head, while a back-seat passenger was not physically injured. South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) investigators later documented at least 14 bullet holes in the victims’ vehicle.

Circuit Court Judge Perry H. Gravely presided over the sentencing. The case was prosecuted by Evans and Assistant Solicitor Jillian Contestabile of the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office Career Criminal Unit.