A Lexington County jury again has found Jeffery Louis Jones guilty of beating a blind Cayce man and his caretaker to death in 1996 with a claw hammer and broken brick.

Jurors deliberated for about five hours Friday before finding Jones guilty of the murders of John Pipkin, 63, and Susan Epstein Furman, 44. The same jury will begin hearing testimony in the sentencing phase today.

The key witness for prosecutors was Jones' roommate at the time, Alfred Brown. He said the pair killed the couple with a hammer and brick to get money to buy crack cocaine. Brown is currently serving a life sentence for the killings.

The girlfriend of a Gaston man accused of giving drugs and money to teenage girls in exchange for sex has been arrested on related sex charges, authorities say.

Melvin has been charged with first-degree sexual exploitation of a child. Authorities say she recruited girls she knew socially to hook up with 68-year-old Aubrey Nelson "Toby" Batson, who gave them drugs, money and cellular phones.

In Batson's three homes in Gaston and Swansea, deputies seized two computers and about 400 pornographic photographs of the girls having sex with Batson and each other, Metts said.

According to arrest warrants, much of the charges against Batson took place between September and November 2004. The four known victims are between 13 and 16 years old, but Metts has said many of the girls in the photographs have not been identified.

A doctor who at one time practiced medicine in Woodruff has been found guilty of prescribing painkillers and other drugs for patients in exchange for marijuana and pills, authorities say.

Michael F. Myers, 52, of Simpsonville was convicted in federal court Thursday of multiple marijuana-related charges, as well as illegal distribution of controlled substances, U.S. Attorney Reggie Lloyd's office said.

Witnesses said they saw a man run up to the car and fire several rounds into it, and a passenger in the front seat fled when the shooting started, police said.

The boy died Saturday at a Columbia hospital. His parents initially brought him to a Sumter hospital, where doctors decided to transport him to Columbia.

High Point University has increased its acreage by 40 percent in less than a year, buying more than 70 homes and parcels that surrounded the private college as it copes with increasing enrollment.

The university, with about 3,000 total students, had its largest freshman class ever this year, with 530 students. Officials say a record number of high school students have expressed interest in the campus.

Most of the 91-acre university was landlocked by surrounding homes, so it bought the properties, demolished many of them, and made space for a residence hall and two academic buildings. The work also has cleaned up unsightly property, officials said.

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