Fewer jurors causing problems

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010 6:50 p.m. (0)

Trials had to be postponed in Greenville County and a driving under the influence conviction in the 7th Circuit was overturned – all because of a lack of potential jurors in magistrate court.

Earlier this month, Greenville County Chief Magistrate Diane Cagle had to postpone a week of trials after only 28 people showed up for jury selection.

And Circuit Court Judge Mark Hayes overturned a driving under the influence conviction because only there were only 39 people in the potential jury pool.  Continue reading...

 

Ludwig asks for jury trial

Greenville businessman faces third-degree assault and battery charge

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010 10:31 a.m. (0)

John Ludwig Jr. has asked for a jury trial on a third-degree assault and battery charge stemming from a confrontation in a downtown restaurant in July.

Ludwig, the Greenville businessman who avoided jail time when a judge suspended his five-year prison sentence to three years probation after he pleaded guilty to reckless homicide for driving his Maserati through a house and killing the homeowner as he watched television, was scheduled to appear in Greenville Municipal Court on Wednesday.

But Ludwig filed paperwork requesting a jury trial, which likely won’t be scheduled until at least January.  Continue reading...

 

Ariail: Ludwig case doesn’t define him

Former prosecutor hopes started Greenville County's drug court

JANUARY 21, 2011 11:25 a.m. (0)

Former 13th Circuit Solicitor Bob Ariail knows he’ll be remembered for John Ludwig, the case that produced controversy and protests during the final months of his 14-year tenure as Greenville County’s top prosecutor.

Ludwig, a Greenville businessman, received probation for driving his Maserati through a man’s house and killing him.

Ariail hopes instead to be remembered for starting Greenville County’s drug court, for improving the quality of lawyers in the solicitor’s office and for pursuing justice in each case.  Continue reading...

 

Dispute over billboards heads to appeals court

Companies demand compensation for removed signs

FEBRUARY 10, 2011 2:31 p.m. (0)

A case that could make it more expensive for the city of Greenville to order the relocation or removal of billboards is heading to the state appellate court.

The South Carolina Court of Appeals will hear arguments Wednesday in a dispute over whether the city has to compensate billboard companies for signs it orders removed for violating zoning regulations.

A law passed by state lawmakers in 2006 prohibits local governments from amortizing nonconforming billboards without paying monetary compensation to the billboard owners.  Continue reading...

 

With the stroke of a pen

Spartanburg County worthless check program helps merchants collect money, keep cases out of court system

MARCH 9, 2011 2:57 p.m. (0)

Les Cooper tried for months to collect on a $369 bad check a woman had written him for a new mattress set.

She told Cooper several times she would come back to 101 Home Furnishings to make the check good – at the end of the week when she got paid, after she got home from a trip, and by 5 p.m. the day a police officer knocked on her door and told her she needed to pay up.

“I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt,” he said. “I just wanted my money.”  Continue reading...

 

For Barnette, it’s personal

Former Travelers Rest teacher promoted to job of top prosecutor in Spartanburg County

MARCH 3, 2011 9:49 p.m. (0)

View slideshow to see photos of Barnette's swearing in ceremony  Continue reading...

 

Freedom and information

Four public officials accused of holding an illegal meeting found not guilty

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.  Continue reading...

 

The life and trials of William Walter Wilkins

MAY 27, 2011 12:00 p.m. (2)

As a child, Billy Wilkins fell in love with courtroom drama while watching his father try cases at the Greenville County Courthouse.

He made up his mind then to be an attorney and went on to become an iconic figure in state legal circles as 13th Circuit solicitor, chief judge of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and in private practice today.

He is well connected in Republican circles and was Ronald Reagan’s first appointment to the federal court system in the early 1980s.  Continue reading...

 

John Ludwig goes to prison

Judge sentences him to three years in prison for violating probation

JANUARY 19, 2012 2:09 p.m. (0)

John Ludwig avoided jail time when he plowed his Maserati through a house, killing the homeowner watching television on his couch. But a November argument with his wife is sending him to prison.

Circuit Judge C. Victor Pyle revoked Ludwig’s probation and sentenced him to three years in prison.

“It appears to me you have a very serious problem with anger,” Pyle told Ludwig before the sentence.  Continue reading...

 

Lawmakers rush to clean up election mess

S.C. Supreme Court ruling sweeps 180 from ballots, including 15 in Upstate

MAY 11, 2012 9:00 a.m. (0)

In the wake of the South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision last week that effectively disqualified 180 candidates statewide from primary ballots, lawmakers are scrambling in Columbia to get most of the candidates reinstated.

The chairman of the state Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Larry A. Martin (R-Pickens) – whose own primary opponent, Rex Rice, was removed by the Supreme Court ruling – called an emergency meeting of the committee Tuesday morning, May 8, to discuss legislation to get the disqualified candidates back on their ballots. The committee voted to pass legislation that would allow all disqualified candidates back on the ballot, provided they had filed all of the necessary paperwork by April 20.  Continue reading...

 

Woman gets 11 years after pleading guilty to DUI killing

Misty Dawn Dawson sentenced after killing a DOT worker while under the influence of prescription drugs

MAY 18, 2012 8:45 a.m. (0)

A Berea woman will spend 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing a Department of Transportation worker last April while driving under the influence of numerous prescription drugs.

At a court hearing in Greenville May 14, Misty Dawn Dawson, 30, pled guilty to felony DUI resulting in death.  Continue reading...