An accused hitman is headed for state prison, but he claims the man prosecutors say hired him to murder a Greenville lawyer is the one who shot the attorney, then killed himself.
Travis Douglass was sentenced yesterday in Greenville County Court to thirty years for attempted murder and possession of a weapon in a violent crime. The charges were filed in connection with the nearly fatal shooting in April of 2023, that left Greenville lawyer John Paul Baum with bullet fragments in his skull.
Prosecutors say cell phone video proved Douglass had parked in front of Baum's law waiting for several hours to ambush him when he came out of the building.
His firm had sued an architect who was a friend of Douglass, and investigators say had hired him to shoot Baum apparently thinking it would somehow derail the case.
However, Douglass is asking for a new trial claiming the architect, David Smith, is one who tired to kill Baum, then committed suicide by driving his car into a utility pole at a hundred miles an hour. The jury found Douglass guilty after five hours' deliberation.
