A Richland County jury on June 1, 2026, acquitted gas station owner Rick Chow of murder in the 2023 shooting death of Cyrus Carmack-Belton, a 14-year-old who had been falsely accused of shoplifting at Chow's Columbia, South Carolina, station [1]. The case reached trial in the Court of General Sessions under the prosecution of Fifth Circuit Solicitor Byron Gipson, who charged Chow with murder under South Carolina law [1]. Defense counsel Shaun Kent centered the defense on justification, arguing that Chow acted lawfully under the circumstances [1].
At trial, the jury was asked to determine whether the state had proved the malice element required for a murder conviction under South Carolina law [1]. The jury found that the prosecution had not met that burden and returned a verdict of not guilty on the single murder count [1]. No lesser charges appear in the reported record, and the verdict sheet reflected a clean acquittal [1].
Because Chow was acquitted, no sentencing proceeding follows and no damages are at issue. The criminal case is resolved at the trial court level, and double jeopardy bars any re-prosecution on the murder charge in state court.
The verdict drew immediate protests in Columbia, with city leaders calling for calm in the aftermath [1]. The case entered national debate over self-defense doctrines, store-owner justification claims, and the circumstances under which force may be used against individuals who are later shown to have posed no actual threat [1]. Whether parallel civil proceedings or federal civil-rights review will follow is not established by the available record.