Polls show growing support to remove Confederate flag from South Carolina Statehouse grounds

Considering the tragic events that have occurred in Charleston over the past few months, it’s no surprise that our State is now considering removing the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds in Columbia. There must be a two-thirds majority between the House and the Senate in order for the flag to come down. According to recent polls, there is strong support for removing it.The Post and Courier recently ran a poll which shows “the S.C. House is inching toward the majority necessary to the remove the Confederate battle flag from the Statehouse grounds. The Senate has already surpassed that support level. A team of reporters has been polling lawmakers since Monday morning. As of 11 a.m. Thursday, 74 House members, or about 60 percent, had indicated their support for taking the flag down, as Gov. Nikki Haley has requested.”This is not the first time the flag’s place has been called in to question. Polls have been taken as recently as 2014 by Winthrop University. However the issue has gained momentum now due to the killing of 9 people at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. According to the Post and Courier, the shooter was “a white supremacist who cloaked himself in the Confederate flag.”The Post and Courier also states, “The flag was placed atop the Statehouse dome in 1962 in what some saw as a show of defiance to integration and the civil rights movement. After mass protests, it was moved to a flagpole next to a Confederate monument along the street in front of the Capitol in 2000 after a compromise was worked out between black lawmakers and the majority Republicans.”This cause is getting National attention as well. Big name retailers such as Walmart and amazon.com have come out this week banning the sale of Confederate flag merchandise. Regarding Amazon’s decision, The Huffington Post stated, “The e-commerce giant said Tuesday that it plans to remove all flags and related merchandise.”

South Carolina is standing by its promise to tackle the domestic violence that plagues our state. Today, Governor Nikki Haley signed new legislation toughening penalties for domestic abusers, and providing more protection for victims. The bill will also ban certain batterers from owning guns.Gov. Haley was quoted as saying the bill “no longer puts the convenience of the abuser first.” According to The Post and Courier, which published the Pulitzer Prize-winning series, “Till Death Do Us Part,” examining our state’s domestic violence problem, “Supporters say the measure represents a key step in fighting an epidemic of violence and killings across the state by spouses and loved ones. South Carolina is consistently among the worst in the nation for men killing women they know.”In our current system, punishment for domestic violence is determined by how many offenses the defendant has. According to counting.com, “The bill punishes abusers based on the severity of the attack, the number of prior offenses and other factors, like whether the victim was strangled, is pregnant or children saw the abuse. The proposal also provides a lifetime gun ban for the worst abusers and has an automatic three- or 10-year ban in other cases.”Attorney General Alan Wilson said, “While the bill is not perfect and is not the last measure of domestic violence reform needed, it is a giant first step in combating domestic violence…I look forward to working with Gov. Haley and members of the General Assembly in the future to take the additional steps necessary to further combat this heinous crime in South Carolina.”Haley’s office held a ceremony to sign the bill this morning, with the Governor surrounded by law makers and other supporters of the effort.

Since The Exonerated is an exciting addition to the Spoleto line up this year, we thought we’d take a look at an exoneration that made headlines in South Carolina recently.

In 1944 an African American teenager named George Stinney Jr. was arrested and charged with the murder of two white girls, ages 11 and 7. Less than two months later, Stinney was executed at the age of 14 after being convicted by an all-white jury. He was the youngest defendant executed in the 20th Century in the United States.

According to latimes.com, “the Stinney case has been cited by civil rights lawyers as one of the South’s most blatant examples of racially biased Jim Crow justice. The all-male jury took just 10 minutes to convict the 14-year-old. That same day, George Stinney was sentenced to die.”

There were many blatant flaws in the investigation and trial, one of which being that Stinney was separated from his parents with no lawyer at such a young age, and was never read his rights. It is believed that he was forced in to a confession.

South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Carmen T. Mullen vacated Stinney’s conviction, stating, “It is highly likely that the defendant was coerced into confessing to the crimes due to the power differential between his position as a 14-year-old black male apprehended and questioned by white, uniformed law enforcement in a small, segregated mill town in South Carolina.”

Mullen also stated that Stinney’s lawyer did “little to nothing” to defend the teenager. No appeal was filed after the Court’s decision, which is shocking considering the 14-year old was electrocuted only 53 days after being convicted.

According to latimes.com, the 2014 hearing “focused on whether George was afforded due process, not whether evidence exists that someone else killed the girls.” It was determined that there were “fundamental, constitutional violation of due process.”

Stinney is survived by three siblings, all of whom have maintained his innocence for over 70 years.

Charlestonians are again gearing up for Piccolo Spoleto, arguably the biggest event of the year in the Lowcountry. Theatrical production The Exonerated, the recipient of The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ 2003 Champion of Justice Award, will return to the line up this year.     The choice is not a surprising one, considering the violent headlines Charleston residents have seen in the past few months. Charleston’s Midtown Productions debuted The Exonerated last fall. The show pulls from actual events, citing interviews, case files and even public records, making it both compelling and relevant to today’s times. The stories paint a bleak portrait of our justice system.     Not only will this show be a highlight of Spoleto, it is also raising funds for an important cause. Midtown will donate 15% of ticket sales to The Innocence Project once they reach their goal of $5,000. The Innocence Project is a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted U.S. citizens.

The Charleston County Sheriff’s office will soon be outfitting all deputies with body cameras. A council committee approved this decision on Thursday, noting that 270 cameras will be purchased, along with the equipment needed to download and store footage. $250,000 has been appropriated for these expenses.

According to The Post and Courier, “The funds will pay for transcription and other new costs that 9th Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson’s office will incur after deputies start using the cameras.”

In the Wake of the Walter Scott shooting, and other high profile officer involved shootings around the nation, Sheriff Al Cannon stated, “The climate today dictates this technology be used”.

Just last week, the Lowcountry saw another officer involved shooting of a man who had called police to assist him during a home invasion. Bryant Heyward, who placed the call to police while trying to protect himself from would be invaders, was critically injured after the officer yelled “show me your hands” but then shot Hayward less than two seconds later.

According to The Post and Courier, “Cannon said, “I think that is an example of a case that might have been aided by a body-worn camera. I think it’s important to recognize that it does not necessarily capture the most important part of an incident but it may.”

North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey and Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen have both expressed desire to see all officers wearing body cameras. Officers coming off their shift will simply hand their cameras over to the next shift’s officer.

While everyone seems to agree this is a necessary step, there are some questions over privacy. According to Victoria Middleton, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina, who was interviewed for The Post and Courier, “There are some situations such as interviewing a rape victim or minors where cameras should not be used. School resource officers also should not have them. And questions remain about who should have access to the recordings and how long they should be retained.”

Needless to say, there are still some details to be worked out. However, hopefully the implementation of body cameras will bring some peace to the heightened climate we’ve seen lately.

The U.S. Supreme Court made an important ruling today stating that extending traffic stops to let drug dogs sniff cars violates American’s Fourth Amendment Rights. The court ruled in a 6-3 vote that  “a police stop exceeding the time needed to handle the matter for which the stop was made violates the Constitution’s shield against unreasonable seizures.”

The case before the court, Rodriguez v. United States, stemmed from a routine traffic stop in 2012, where Denny Rodriguez was pulled over by a K9 unit in Nebraska after he swerved his vehicle to avoid a pothole in the roadway. The officer who pulled Rodriguez over took an extraordinary amount of time during the stop…After such time, the officer simply issued Rodriguez a written warning, but asked if he could run his dog around the vehicle.

To summarize the incident, Rodriguez initially denied the search request and backup was called. When the dog eventually did circle the vehicle, a large bag of methamphetamine was found. When his day in court came, Rodriguez initially plead guilty, but later appealed citing illegal obtaining of evidence.

In order to uphold our own Fourth Amendment rights, there are some things we should all remember during traffic stops:

Police do not have authority to conduct a K9 search outside the normal time it takes to issue a traffic ticket. For example, calling a backup unit to search a car that was pulled over for a broken tail light would take the officer well outside of the authority they are granted.

It’s important to know your rights and protect yourself. Drivers do not have to consent to K9 searches.

The mission of a traffic stop is to determine whether or not a traffic ticket is warranted. A K9 search is not considered part of that mission.

In the wake of the national attention the Walter Scott shooting has brought to Charleston, body cameras continue to be a hot topic in the media. Now that the Berkeley County Sheriff’s race is underway, the debate is in the forefront more than ever.

The Republican primary for Berkeley County Sheriff will draw voters on Tuesday. There are currently 14 candidates running. This election will prove to draw a lot of media attention on its own, considering former Sheriff, Wayne DeWitt, has been indicted on charges related to his drunk driving arrest in December.

According to Live 5 News, many Sheriff candidates say “they support requiring on-duty Deputies to wear body cameras. Some of the candidates say the county also needs to be mindful of the costs of cameras, which range from 100 to 500 dollars.”

While many see the need for these cameras, candidates also want to make sure upcoming legislation making its way through Washington will protect both deputies, and the people they serve.

According to Live 5 News, candidate Omar Brown says “When you go to a rape scene, you want to protect that victim…If you go to a child molestation scene, you want to protect that child…and that victim.”

Questions have also arisen over the cost of taping and storing footage of entire shifts. However, due to the high profile shootings of late, it seems likely that there will be a lot of support for the cameras.

Berkeley County will breath a big sigh of relief once a new Sheriff is elected. Live 5 News states, “If a Republican candidate doesn’t get more than 50 percent of the vote a runoff will be held on May 5. The winner will face Democratic candidate Anthony Smalls and write-in candidate Derrick Burbage in the general election in June.”

The shooting death of an unarmed African American man, Walter Scott, by a North Charleston Police Officer, Michael Slager, has been front page news here in Charleston since it happened last weekend. Walter Scott was killed after the officer fired 8 shots. The fact that the incident was caught on camera by a civilian bystander has left little room for debate over the course of events that day. The indisputable footage is causing citizens to now demand body cameras on all officers, a request that is being met by the city of North Charleston.     According to the Huffington Post, Mayor Keith Summey ”announced Wednesday that the city will supply more than 200 body cameras for the police force…Summey said at a press conference Wednesday that North Charleston…has a grant to supply 101 body cameras for the officers, and that he has ordered 150 more…Summey noted that was enough for every patrol officer to wear one.”     North Charleston is not the only city making this change. Cities in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, among others, have been placing large orders for body cameras, according to TASER International, Inc.     One group that has seen success after implementing body cameras is the San Diego Police Department. According to TASER International, Inc, “A report that was developed by San Diego’s Police Department for the City Council’s Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee showed that complaints fell 41%, total allegations were reduced by 60% and use of “personal body” force by officers dropped by 47%.  The use of pepper spray was also reduced by 31%.  The results from this study reflect comparisons to prior periods in which body-worn cameras were not deployed.” The San Diego PD has seen such a change that they plan to increase the number of cameras from 600 to 1,000.     The South Carolina legislator is currently debating a bill which will require law enforcement officers to wear body cameras. This bill is gaining traction after the recent tragedy between Michael Slager and Walter Scott. Law enforcement officials have indicated they support the bill but are concerned with costs and privacy. Ultimately I believe a bill requiring body cameras will pass in South Carolina along with similar laws throughout the rest of the country.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and Charleston is getting involved by hosting some powerful events for our residents.According to the Post and Courier, “People Against Rape will hold its Take Back the Night march and vigil from 7-9 tonight in Charleston.The one-mile march will start at the Unitarian Church on Archdale Street and continue through the College of Charleston’s campus.”This event will honor survivors of violence in our area.Another event will be hosted on April 26 by People Against Rape, this one at Marian Square. This year’s theme is Stop the Violence, and attendees will be treated to a talk by victim advocate Alison Jennings.Charleston will also host a summit on sex trafficking next week at MUSC. The event will feature Lisa Williams as speaker. Williams works with victims of trafficking through Living Water for Girls and Living Water Learning Resource Center. According to the Post and Courier, “The summit is organized by the Charleston Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.”Perhaps the most compelling part of the summit comes in the form of a community workshop and panel discussion. The Post and Courier states, “The panel includes law enforcement, legal services and legislation advocates. The workshop will feature Austen Brown Williams, a former Miss Teen SC and last year’s Mrs. America when she was living in Texas, whose platform was human trafficking awareness.”Registration is required at charlestonalumnae-dst.org.

Over a month after his controversial DUI arrest, Berkeley County Sheriff Wayne DeWitt has resigned.

Dewitt feels he has cast a shadow over the Sheriff’s post, a position he has held for 20 years. His arrest on December 28 sparked a public outrage and cause many citizens to call for his resignation. Dewitt fled a crash site, attempting to evade police driving at 108 mph.

According to the Post and Courier, Dewitt said, “I know and understand the entire situation is the product of my own failures…as an elected official, as sheriff and as a person, I recognize that I must be held accountable. … I can no longer be an effective public servant regardless of how the legal process unfolds.”

Gov. Nikki Haley will eventually choose a replacement for Dewitt, although no prospects are known. Chief Deputy Rick Ollic, will assume the role until Haley makes her decision.

According to the Post and Courier, “Haley accepted DeWitt’s resignation and responded by writing in a letter that his “seat shall be filled in the manner according to law.” She has the authority to appoint his replacement until a special election can be held…“We’re still doing what we need to do to take care of the citizens of the county,” Ollic said. “It’s difficult when these things happen. But the important thing is to keep our employees moving in the right direction.”