ST. GEORGE – For more than a week, people living in and around this small town have struggled to understand the murder on New Year’s Day of a highly regarded former lawyer while he slept at his home. Even more intriguing to them is who the police say shot him: his son.
Jim Bell, 76, was a local boy who stayed, practicing law in Dorchester County for more than 48 years and becoming a sought-after source of political and legal advice in this community, about 50 miles northwest of Charleston.
He was generous in and out of court, someone who represented a person for free or wrote checks to help those in need. This kindness extended to his friends, who recalled trips to the beach, hunting trips and home-cooked meals with Bell and his 53-year-old wife. Together, the couple had two children.
It was with these children that Bell faced challenges. Both went to prison, a fact that did not stop Bell from loving them, according to close friends and former colleagues.
“He tried to help them as best he could,” said John Witherspoon, a lawyer who was a former partner of Bell’s. “It is a very tragic situation.”
In one example of this support, a son, Jason Bell, was living with his parents. On the morning of January 1, St. George’s police said Jason Bell, 48, shot his father twice in the head. He later confessed, saying it was a merciful death due to his father’s deteriorating health, according to St. George’s police chief, Brett Camp.
“I think there is much more than that,” said Camp.
Whatever the reason, those who met Jim Bell were shocked by the violent end of his illustrious life.
“Town of Friendly People” is seen in downtown St. George on Thursday, January 7, 2021. Andrew J. Whitaker / Staff
A constant presence
Born in Summerville, Bell left his mark by becoming a constant presence in St. George, a community of less than 2,500 people close to where Interstates 95 and 26 meet.
He opened an office in the city in 1970, after graduating from law school at the University of South Carolina the previous year.
Summerville city councilor Walter Bailey said he remembers meeting Bell at the Dorchester County courthouse shortly after Bailey finished law school in 1972. There were only about a dozen lawyers in Summerville and St. George at the time, and Bell was looking forward to helping the new attorney get off to a good start, Bailey recalled.
Bailey and Bell continued to meet in court, sometimes opposing in front of the judges. Bailey became a prosecutor for the 1st Judicial Circuit, which covers the counties of Calhoun, Dorchester and Orangeburg. Even during contentious cases, Bailey said that Bell was someone he could trust.
“He was honest because the day was long,” said Bailey. “If he said something, you could take him to the bank.”
Bell worked as a lawyer for Dorchester County from 1971 to 1987. He helped guide the area during a period of growth, advising its leaders on proposals to consolidate schools and plans to improve water and court services. His term ended when he was fired from his job after the county’s center of influence moved from rural St. George, its headquarters, to Summerville, the expanding suburb.
Wayne Reeves, who served on the county council at the time, said Bell’s dismissal had nothing to do with his job performance.
“It was time to change,” said Reeves.
Bell remained in St. George, serving as a mentor and father figure for lawyers in the area. This included those who worked with him at his law firm along Parler Avenue, a north-south public road dotted with brick buildings that cross US Route 78 in the city.
Over the years, he was known for taking his team off on Friday afternoons, cooking community meals for them, and offering advice.
“He really emphasized his commitment to the community,” said Robby Robbins, commissioner for the state’s Department of Transportation. Robbins started his legal career working for Bell and later served as his partner. He stayed at Bell’s company for 10 years before leaving to join the First Circuit Prosecutor’s Office in 1997.
Bell was an influential person in Dorchester County politics, said Robbins. People would seek their advice before making the decision to run in the next elections.
Jim Bell’s 76 vacant former St. George office, a retired lawyer who was killed in his home on January 1, 2021. Andrew J. Whitaker / Staff
He maintained his law firm on Parler Avenue, even after a major fire in 2005 devoured his office and arrested 100 firefighters from four counties.
“It just makes us work harder,” he told Post and Courier at the time.
Problems at home
The law firm that Bell occupied before retiring a few years ago is now vacant.
When he was not working there, or in court, he often spent his time away, making fishing trips to Florida and enjoying Edisto beach. Dorchester County Councilor George Bailey said Bell also used to host regular pigeon hunts that would attract 100 people.
“I would go whenever I could,” said Bailey, who also served in the state’s House of Representatives. The two have been friends for 47 years, he said.
More recently, Bell’s health deteriorated and he spent more time at home while dealing with a respiratory illness. He was on oxygen therapy. But he was known to remain optimistic, even during difficult times in his life. Some of them involved their children.
Many close to Bell did not want to be quoted discussing their children, but police and judicial records paint a picture of the problems in their lives.
A son, James Bell Jr., pleaded guilty in 2006 to possession of child pornography, a crime that took him to federal prison and placed him on the state’s sex offender registry. He died in 2018.
Jason Bell, 48, is being held at Dorchester County Prison. Andrew J. Whitaker / Staff
Jason Bell, the younger of the two, went to prison after being arrested in February 2016 for an attempted home invasion in Warren County, NC, near the Virginia border.
He was accused of breaking into a man’s house, pointing a .357 revolver at him and threatening to kill him, according to court records. He was also accused of damaging four vehicles in the house.
Jason Bell ended up being shot twice in the upper body during the incident, according to a report in The Warren Record. He did not contest the charge of attempted theft in the first degree, court records show.
After serving 20 months in prison, he was released in May 2018, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Security. He later returned to South Carolina, where he completed probation the following year, according to Anita Dantzler, a spokesman for the SC Department of Probation, probation and pardon services.
Eventually, Jason Bell returned to his parents’ home. He was living with them at the time of his father’s death, although court records list his address some 25 miles northeast of St. George, near Lake Marion.
On January 1, Jim Bell was shot between 12:01 am and 2:00 am, according to Dorchester County coroner Paul Brouthers, who gave no further details.
Sometime during that two-hour period, St. George police said, Jason Bell came down the stairs and shot his father while he slept in an armchair in the living room of the house. He came back up after the shooting, the police said. The police were not called until around 8 am, when Jim Bell’s wife found her husband unanswered in the chair.
Jason Bell was later interviewed at the city’s police headquarters, where he “openly admitted” the crime, according to an arrest warrant. The officers had been at the house before disputes involving Jason Bell and his parents, but nothing that would lead to arrest, said Camp, the police chief.
Jason Bell was arrested at Dorchester County Prison, where he is held without bail on charges of murder. Court records do not indicate that he has a lawyer, and prosecutors said they did not know any legal representatives for Bell.
Jim Bell attended St. George’s United Methodist Church in downtown St. George. Andrew J. Whitaker / Staff
‘A life worth imitating’
On a recent afternoon, the neighborhood around Bell’s home had no outward signs of police activity. Its narrow, tree-lined streets were hardly used by vehicle traffic. Golf carts are a popular means of transportation.
Reverend Theron Smith of St. George’s United Methodist Church lives a short walk from Bell’s home. He remembered Jim Bell as a generous parishioner, who often gave private money to help others.
“He lived a life worth imitating,” said Smith. “He was easy to love.”
Bell liked to sing at the Methodist church, which is just a few blocks south of his old law firm. Train tracks are also nearby, as is the headquarters of the World Grits Festival, an annual event that takes place in the city.
In addition to sharing their faith at 11 am on Sundays, the two broke bread together, sometimes celebrating Bell’s ribs.
Smith said he never asked Bell what made his ribs so good.
Instead of waiting for another shared meal for the new year, Smith was preparing to preside over Bell’s funeral, seeking inspiration from John 14 in the Bible. He begins: “Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me.”
Smith said he wished he could be in the audience for private worship at another Methodist church, so that he could cry, suffer and reflect on his friend’s life. But, he reassured himself, he would be able to get over it.
“I’ll be fine,” said Smith, before pausing and repeating again and again.
Jim Bell was buried in the cemetery at United Bethel Methodist Church, near St. George. Andrew J. Whitaker / Staff