Freedom and information

By Charles Sowell  

MAY 13, 2011 10:21 a.m. (0)

Four Holly Springs Fire District commissioners were found innocent Tuesday in a landmark first criminal prosecution for violating the state’s Freedom of Information Act.

The crime is a misdemeanor, but was argued with all the fervor of a murder case with the defense using former federal Judge Billy Wilkins of Greenville and Spartanburg attorney Kenneth Anthony to represent Commission Chairman Ryan Phillips, commissioners Kelly Waters and Roscoe Kyle and former commissioner Clarence Gibbs.

They were accused of willfully and intentionally holding an illegal meeting by failing to give the required 24-hour notice, not taking proper minutes of the meeting, failing to notify the public and by taking a secret vote at the meeting.

Originally passed in 1972 as a simple open meetings law, the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act as it is now in effect sets rules for public meetings and just what is, and is not, public information. Much of the law as it stands today was enacted in 1974.

The FOIA was significantly amended in 1985 and 1987 and now includes criminal penalties for willfully ignoring the law’s provisions. Violating it is punishable by a $100 fine or up to 30 days in jail on first offense.

After the trial Bill Rogers, executive director of the South Carolina Press Association said, “I think this case hinged on the willful provision of the law (on proving criminal action). Clearly the commissioners violated the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The case sends a message to public officials everywhere in the state that they will be held accountable.”

Wilkins agreed that the willful provision of the law was crucial to the defense victory. Willfulness, as the law defines, it requires an evil mind (knowledge of the law) and an evil hand (acting to break the law in spite of that knowledge).

“I also think the jury believed these good people here,” he said pointing to the four former defendants standing in the lobby of the Spartanburg Judicial Center.

The case hinged around a June 16, 2010, meeting of the commissioners. They were accused of holding a meeting without the required 24-hour notice, not taking minutes and taking a secret vote at the meeting.

Acting on a tip, Jay King, a reporter with Hometown News Inc., was at the meeting and confronted Phillips over irregularities in conducting the session.

King testified he told Phillips the meeting was illegal under the state’s FOIA law but was asked to leave the meeting anyway.

In the wake of the June 16 meeting King approached the solicitor’s office, Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office, State Law Enforcement Division and state judicial officials before filing a complaint on his own, which resulted in a courtesy summons and ended in Tuesday’s trial.

John M. Rollins Jr., a special prosecutor named by former 7th Circuit Solicitor Trey Gowdy to handle the case, hammered each commissioner on the stand over how much they understood, or attempted to understand, the FOIA law.

The governor appoints Holly Springs fire commissioners and former Gov. Mark Sanford appointed all four commissioners who were on trial.

The defendants said the meeting was to discuss reducing long-time Fire Chief Lee Jeffcoat’s salary.

King, from the stand, said it was his impression that the commissioners had voted to fire the chief at the June 16 meeting.

The vote to fire Jeffcoat didn’t actually come until more than a month later, on July 23. The firing and controversies leading up to that action, tore the small community in northern Spartanburg County along partisan lines and deputies had to escort board members out of the fire building. At one point Spartanburg Sheriff Chuck Wright stepped in to separate angry residents.

At Tuesday’s trial, supporters of Jeffcoat packed the courtroom murmuring with each point the prosecution made.

The four commissioners all said they never intended to violate the law and depended on Jeffcoat to make sure they were in compliance.

At one point, Phillips said from the stand “There is no rhyme or reason as to who is in charge” and admitted that he did not know who was supposed to take the minutes of the board’s meeting “just like I don’t know who locks and unlocks the doors.”

Magistrate Kirby Shealy of Richland County, who was appointed to hear the case after local law enforcement declined to prosecute on King’s complaints, made it plain in his charge to the jury that willfulness was the key to finding the defendants guilty of criminal wrongdoing.

In his closing arguments, Wilkins admitted the commissioners had made mistakes in compliance with FOIA requirements. Wilkins was representing Phillips, Waters and Kyle; Anthony represented Gibbs.

“These folks did make mistakes but they made honest mistakes,” Wilkins said, “They’re charged with a willful violation, and that’s what the law requires. If you don’t have a willful violation, you don’t have a violation.”

The jury agreed after less than an hour of deliberations.