Chief Kevin Cornett was chief of the Springdale Police Department from 2012 to May 2019.

The pressure to find qualified officers to staff the ranks of his former department was immense, he said.

"We had eight sworn officers when I started," Cornett said. "When I left, we had 10. ... We'd get (officers) and they'd leave for larger agencies."

The chief said he was faced with some difficult decisions. Elected officials were pressuring him to put new recruits to work and spots weren't opening up at the academy.

Fortunately, spots opened up at the last minute and he avoided putting uncertified officers out on patrol, Cornett said.

"We came close," he said. "It was always in the back of my mind."

So far, at Isle of Palms, Cornett says the video classes are workingMr. Rivera’s second jury trial in 1998, the jury found him guilty once again and sentenced him to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Rivera appealed this second conviction the same year and in 2002 the appellate court affirmed.

While incarcerated in prison, Mr. Rivera married in October of 2000.

A third jury trial commenced in 2009 in which information of record was presented showing that Mr. Rivera was already under arrest on electronic home monitoring at the time the rape and murder took place. This means that Mr. Rivera could not have committed the crime because he was at home.

However, the jury during the third trial still convicted him again and sentenced him to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.In 2011, the appellate court reversed the third