South Carolina

Officer is charged with murder after shooting video surfaces

A police officer in North Charleston, South Carolina, has been charged with murder after a video showed him shooting a man in the back as he ran away. The 33-year-old officer, Michael Slager, shot 50-year-old Walter Scott after a traffic stop for a broken tail light on Saturday, report the…

Apr 8, 2015 9:29 AM CDT

Judge cuts $1.6M jury verdict for lawyer who said she was hounded by sheriff’s office to $300K

Saying that he was required to do so by a legal cap on damages against a government agency, a South Carolina judge has reduced a $1.6 million jury verdict for an attorney who said she was hounded by the local sheriff’s office to $300,000. Kay Paschal contended in her malicious…

Jan 28, 2015 6:15 AM CST

Murder conviction of boy, 14, is tossed 70 years after his execution; judge cites bad lawyering

A South Carolina judge has vacated the murder conviction of a 14-year-old black youth who was executed in 1944 after being found guilty by an all-white jury in a one-day trial. Judge Carmen Mullen granted a writ of coram nobis and vacated the conviction of George Stinney Jr., obtained just…

Dec 18, 2014 9:56 AM CST

Security guards with less training than manicurists wield considerable power

Security guards in South Carolina have less training than manicurists and animal control officers, yet they have about the same authority as police on private property. Unarmed security guards in the state are required to undergo only four hours of training, while armed guards have to receive eight hours of…

Dec 17, 2014 5:45 AM CST

New law school president throws in towel after 8 days on the job

Hired on Nov. 13, the new president of Charleston School of Law threw in the towel barely more than a week later. In a Thursday-night email, Maryann Jones told two of the school’s three owners that she’d had enough, citing turmoil over the private school’s proposed sale to InfiLaw, the…

Nov 24, 2014 5:25 PM CST

SCOTUS refuses another stay in a same-sex marriage case

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday refused to grant a stay that would have blocked same-sex marriages in South Carolina. The order (PDF) said Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas would have granted the stay, report the National Law Journal (sub. req.), the New York Times and SCOTUSblog. Those justices…

Nov 21, 2014 7:42 AM CST

Top state court says judges cannot issue same-sex marriage licenses until federal judge rules

After a U.S. Supreme Court refusal this week to hear appeals from several federal appellate-court rulings that approved same-sex marriage, some observers expected that other states in the same jurisdiction would soon allow same-sex couples to wed, too. But, at the request of the state attorney general, the South Carolina…

Oct 9, 2014 2:55 PM CDT

Lawyer gets probation for failing to report kickback scheme, says he didn’t want to rock the boat

The former general counsel for South Carolina State University has been sentenced to six months of probation for failing to report a kickback scheme in which he donated his take to charity. U.S. District Judge David Norton sentenced the now suspended lawyer, Edwin Givens, 51, on Thursday, report the Post…

Sep 26, 2014 11:29 AM CDT

Another drug lab is shut down due to concerns about flawed work by staff

Add another jurisdiction to the list of those who have shut down their drug labs due to issues with staff. The Columbia, South Carolina, police department closed its facility last week after determining that an analyst had not been properly trained and may have submitted inaccurate results in court cases,…

Aug 25, 2014 8:50 PM CDT

Mom faces disorderly conduct charge for dropping F-bomb while shopping with kids

A harried young mom admits she used the F-word while at a South Carolina supermarket. But, contrary to what another shopper reported to police, she was addressing her husband, not her children, who was squashing the bread under other groceries, Danielle Wolf tells WJBF. Despite an argument between the women…

Aug 15, 2014 11:15 AM CDT

Lawyer faces charges linked to claimed $28M health insurance fraud

A South Carolina lawyer is facing federal criminal charges linked to a claimed $28 million health insurance fraud scheme. Kathleen Devereaux Cauthen is accused of aiding others who allegedly sold some 17,000 phony policies throughout the country, via the American Trade Association, reports the Tennessean. She was charged in a…

Jun 25, 2014 4:30 PM CDT

Lawyer admits failing to report homecoming kickback scheme; he allegedly gave his cut to charity

A former lawyer for South Carolina State University has pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony for failing to report a homecoming kickback scheme. Edwin Givens, the university’s former general counsel and chief of staff, pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday, report the Post and Courier and the Times…

May 14, 2014 11:49 AM CDT

Murder defendant’s lawyer asks judge to stop mom from posting about her daughter’s death on Facebook

A lawyer for a murder defendant in South Carolina is asking a judge to order the victim’s mother and other family members to stop posting about the teen’s death on Facebook. Lawyer Charles Grose represents Michael Beaty Jr., 30, who is accused of strangling 19-year-old Emily Asbill at a June…

May 2, 2014 1:43 PM CDT

LegalZoom business model OK’d by South Carolina Supreme Court

Updated: LegalZoom, the purveyor of online interactive self-help legal documents, announced in a press release this week that the South Carolina Supreme Court has approved the company’s business practices, which have been challenged in a number of state courts as unauthorized practice of law. According to a report (PDF) by…

Apr 25, 2014 10:20 PM CDT

Once-prominent lawyer gets 5 years in federal prison for stealing $2.4M from clients

A once-prominent South Carolina lawyer was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison on Wednesday for stealing $2.4 million from clients. The defense had asked that Richard Breibart be sentenced only to the 18 months he had already served in the mail fraud case, saying that he is sick and…

Mar 5, 2014 5:10 PM CST