Joseph Carl Shaw (March 31, 1955 – January 11, 1985)[1] was an American convicted murderer and the first person executed by the state of South Carolina after the U.S. Supreme Court reauthorized the use of capital punishment in 1976.

There, he met James Terry Roach, Ronald Eugene Mahaffey, and Robert Neil Williams.

[4] After the sudden end of his relationship, Shaw, Roach, Mahaffey, and Williams consumed large quantities of drugs and alcohol.

[4] On October 29, 1977, Shaw, Roach, and Mahaffey spent the morning taking drugs and drinking alcohol.

Taylor gave the men his wallet while Shaw forced Hartness into the back seat of his car.

The men left the scene, disposed of the rifle, and returned to the baseball park to confirm that Taylor was dead.

As a result of plea negotiations, the state did not seek the death penalty against Mahaffey in exchange for his testimony against Shaw and Roach.

Roach pleaded guilty to two counts of murder, rape, kidnapping and armed robbery.

[4] Shaw was executed by electrocution on January 11, 1985, at the Central Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina, at the age of 29.