Inset left: Joshua Scott-Lee Butler (Berkeley County Jail). Inset right: Earl Goodwater (Obituary). Background: The Goose Creek, S.C., area where Butler fatally shot Goodwater (Google Maps).
A South Carolina man has been ordered to serve decades in prison after prosecutors said he shot and killed a father who stepped in to defend his daughter during a domestic violence confrontation.
Joshua Scott-Lee Butler, 29, was found guilty this week by a Berkeley County jury of murder in the death of 53-year-old Earl Goodwater. Butler was also convicted of pointing and presenting a firearm at another person and possessing a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. The jury found him not guilty on a charge of second-degree domestic violence.
Circuit Court Judge Courtney Clyburn-Pope later sentenced Butler to 45 years in prison. He also received two additional five-year sentences for the lesser offenses, though those terms will be served concurrently, meaning at the same time.
The deadly encounter unfolded on May 13, 2023, outside the Goodwater family home on Westminster Boulevard in Goose Creek’s St. James Estates neighborhood, according to the Ninth Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
At trial, prosecutors told jurors that Butler and his then-fiancée had arrived at her parents’ residence at about 10 p.m.
Investigators said the couple had been arguing earlier that evening after a dispute began at another family event. Once they were in the driveway, the confrontation escalated into violence. Prosecutors said Butler struck the woman in the face, leaving her mouth cut and swollen.
Authorities said the couple’s daughter witnessed that initial assault.
The woman then entered her parents’ home to retrieve the couple’s 1-year-old child, prosecutors said. While inside the house, she called for help from her father. Goodwater told his daughter to “leave that boy alone” and the two men subsequently got into a physical altercation that quickly spilled out of the house and into the front yard.
Family members tried to pull the men apart but Butler ran to his vehicle and retrieved a 9 mm handgun that he pointed at someone else entirely, according to trial testimony.
“I’m not afraid to die,” the third person said, in an attempt to divert attention away from Goodwater, his daughter and children who had come outside amid the confrontation, prosecutors said.
The defendant then “did a ‘2-3 step’ and jerked past the witness” he was initially aiming the gun at, prosecutors said. Butler then confronted Goodwater directly again, this time near the front porch.
In an ensuing struggle, the younger man put the older man in a headlock while still holding the gun. Then a single shot rang out.
Butler shot Goodwater in the right cheek. Authorities said the wound was both fatal and likely caused instantaneous death.
The defendant fled the scene with his 4-year-old daughter and Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested him after he returned to the scene later that night.
Butler was originally arrested on a charge of involuntary manslaughter but was later indicted on more serious charges.
“Earl Goodwater did what any good father would do: he stepped up to protect his daughter and grandchildren,” Assistant Solicitor Michelle Hart said in a statement. “This was a domino effect caused by the defendant’s decisions. Butler had already assaulted Earl’s daughter. He had already been pulled off of Earl. He chose to go to that car, arm himself, and go back to the house. That choice ended a father’s life in front of his family, and the jury and judge held him accountable for it.”
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