Cowick trial delayed until next year, officials say
The death-penalty trial of Cephas Cowick, which had been scheduled to begin this month at the Darlington County Courthouse, has been pushed back until sometime next year, the county Clerk of Court’s office says.
The trial had been set to begin the week of Aug. 19, and three weeks of court time had been set aside for what was to be Darlington County’s first death-penalty trial in at least 10 years or more.
But the trial has been “continued” and will be rescheduled sometime next year, according to the Clerk of Court’s office.
Cowick has been jailed without bond since 2016, awaiting trial in the killings of a Darlington woman and her 9-year-old granddaughter. Cowick’s wife, Katherine Baucom-Cowick, also remains jailed on two murder charges in the case, but she will be tried separately. Her trial date remains unclear.
The victims, Denise Couplin, 52, and her granddaughter, Deziyah Davis, were shot to death at their home off Bobo Newsome Highway in July 2016.
Couplin’s car was stolen; it later was found burned.
— Bobby Bryant