Jerry Buck Inman - Repeat Sex Offender Facing Death Penalty

Jerry Buck Inman is scheduled to appear in Pickens County court tomorrow morning in a hearing that his defense team has earlier indicated could be an opportunity for the registered sex offender to plead guilty in the killing of Clemson University student Tiffany Souers.

Still, the exact nature of tomorrow's hearing is unclear because a court order has barred virtually anyone surrounding the case from speaking publicly about it.

Inman's lead attorney, Jim Bannister, said during his last court appearance three weeks ago that a hearing should be scheduled so that the 37-year-old Tennessee man could "formally tender" his guilty plea in the May 2006 killing.

Inman is charged with murder, criminal sexual misconduct and kidnapping after Souers was found strangled and sexually assaulted in her off-campus apartment.

According to Inman's case file, several small motions are pending before Circuit Judge Ned Miller, including a request filed by Inman that he be named co-counsel in his case.

Another filing shows that Inman's lawyers have indicated that they will not try to pursue any claim that Inman is mentally retarded, which would make it more difficult to execute him if he were found guilty and sentenced to death.

Last September, Inman's defense team asked Miller to allow Inman to plead guilty to the crime but have a jury decide whether he should be executed as it would do if it had heard the guilt-phase of a trial. Miller denied the request, citing state law mandates that a judge impose a sentence after a guilty plea.

The request for a jury trial was petitioned all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case.

Inman, a registered sex offender, is charged with raping a woman in Tennessee and attempted rape of another woman in Alabama , charges that his defense attorneys have sought to have excluded as part of the Souers trial. Inman also is charged with trying to make a prison knife out of a radio to stab Pickens County Detention Center officers holding him in solitary confinement.

"25% of all sex offenders re-offend within 15 years"

.........Sarah Tofte