South-Carolina
South Carolina Solicitor Responds To Criticism – FITSNews
South Carolina fifth circuit solicitor Byron Gipson is defending his office’s handling of a recent high-profile drug prosecution – as well as his team’s overall record of putting violent criminals behind bars.
Gipson addressed recent comments made by Richland County sheriff Leon Lott – who spoke with this news outlet earlier this month about the need for prosecutors in South Carolina to be held accountable for their role in the Palmetto State’s notoriously lenient criminal justice system. Lott did not mention Gipson by name, but the veteran law enforcement leader criticized the solicitor’s office for its handling of the case of Robert Marks – a thrice-convicted, violent drug trafficker who appears to have received special treatment from former S.C. circuit court judge (and current U.S. fourth circuit judge) DeAndrea Benjamin.
Lott also made it clear (when asked) that he and Gipson have “a different conception of criminal justice.”
“That’s accurate,” Lott said. “I believe in accountability. Reducing sentences and dismissing cases? That’s not part of it.”
As this news outlet reported earlier this month, Marks has been on the streets for several years due to a controversial “pre-sentencing investigation” (PSI) request made by powerful lawyer-legislator Todd Rutherford in connection with his case.
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Rutherford’s request was granted by judge Benjamin in December 2020 – yet as of this writing no hearing has taken place on the sentencing. Also worth noting? It took more than four years from Marks’ 2016 arrest for him to be brought to trial.
Lott referred to Marks’ case as a “miscarriage of justice.”
“There’s no reason for him to be on the streets,” the sheriff said. “That’s the crack in our criminal justice system. We’re not holding people accountable. So there’s no reason for them not to continue committing crimes.”
Gipson pushed back on the Marks case, saying PSI is a tool frequently used by the S.C. Department of Probation Parole and Pardon Services (SCDPPPS) to shed light on defendants’ histories.
“This process allows (SCDPPPS) to do a deeper dive into a defendant’s background, then offer sentencing recommendations to the presiding judge,” Gipson said. “In the vast majority of cases, sentencing occurs contemporaneously with the plea or trial, however PSIs are requested and conducted from time-to-time.”
(Click to view)
As for the ongoing delay in getting Marks back before a judge to actually be sentenced (SCDPPPS finished the pre-sentencing report in early 2021), Gipson said his office “has been actively working to schedule this matter for quite some time.”
A review of court records confirmed as much …
One item of interest gleaned from those records, though? On one of the dates Rutherford declined to make himself available to hear Marks’ plea, he was attending a meeting of the S.C. Judicial Merit Selection Commission (SCJMSC) down the road from the Richland County courthouse. A clique of influential lawyer-legislators, the SCJMSC decides which judicial candidates get to stand for legislative election each year.
In other words, Rutherford couldn’t be bothered to appear for Marks’ sentencing hearing because he was too busy appointing more judges to the bench who will do his bidding in future cases.
South Carolina is one of only two states in America in which the legislature chooses judges – a system which promotes sweetheart plea deals, anemic sentences, ridiculous bonds, the perpetual abuse of victims and “mandatory minimum” sentences that wound up being not-so-mandatory.
Speaking generally about Lott’s criticisms – and the criticisms of others about his office – Gipson disputed the characterizations, saying “we’re holding people accountable every day.”
He pointed to nearly two dozen recent trials and dozens of recent pleadings – including several dozen cases in which defendants were sentenced to more than ten years in prison. One of the recent trials our news outlet reported on just last month.
“Every case we’ve won is an example of accountability,” Gipson said. “Every one of those pleas is an example of accountability. Unfortunately his definition of accountability seems to mean obtaining the result that he believes is proper. That’s not always the way it works, though. We are very tough on violent crime. We are very tough on gun violence — the proof is in the pudding.”
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RELATED | LEON LOTT: PROSECUTORS NEED TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE
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“There is a vast chasm between probable cause – the standard to make an arrest – and beyond a reasonable doubt, the legal standard required for a jury to convict,” Gipson continued.
He cited numerous factors which make the chasm even wider – including the reticence of many victims and witnesses to testify in cases in which they believe their lives could be in danger.
As for Lott’s suggestion that citizens “go to 1701 Main Street and sit in the courtroom on the days they are taking pleas,” Gipson said his office would welcome the scrutiny.
“Yeah, come down,” he said. “Come on down. And not just for five minutes or six minutes, Sit through a trial to see our office in action. Observe the criminal justice system in action, then you will have the opportunity to judge accountability with your own eyes.”
Regarding Lott’s assertion that his deputies were “the ones who are with the victims – the ones who see the victims,” Gipson said his office “does that every day.”
“Our victims advocates meet with victims and their loved ones daily,” he said. “They assist victims as they seek restitution, as they seek counseling, through trial preparation and they are present during the entire trial as well. We are present from the moment the case is transferred to our office through resolution — trial, plea or otherwise. We wear their elation and their frustration. We are a part of their lives through the resolution of the case with our office.”
(Click to view)
(Via: Provided)
“At the end of the day we’re on the same team,” he said. “We want to make Richland County a safer place, a better place. And we’re working hard every day to do that. It is around-the-clock work. When arrests happen at 2:00 – 3:00 a.m. in the morning, we get those calls as well. Law enforcement calls us on these cases to request advice as to whether probable cause exists too.”
Gipson said upticks in crime have strained law enforcement, prosecutorial and judicial resources, although he praised state lawmakers for “aggressively addressing” recruitment and retention.
“They have given us money for recruitment and retention and that’s helping us to hire new assistant solicitors and raise the salaries of our veteran prosecutors,” Gipson said. “That’s major for us – and we’re very thankful.”
Gipson also credited lawmakers for funding a statewide case management system that he said would “help us with the organization of cases – tracking offenders across counties, and sharing info.”
“It will help us streamline our preparation and be more deliberate in our prosecutorial decisions,” he said.
As for fixing the broken system of judicial selection, Gipson did not endorse any specific reform proposal – although he rejected the idea of popularly electing judges.
“Each branch needs to have a say-so,” he said. “I don’t believe there needs to be a popular election, but there’s a sweet spot here that we have to find. Any reform needs to be based on the principles our country was founded on – the checks and balances and separation of powers between the branches of government.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.
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The 2024 South Carolina high school football season is in high gear and SBLive Sports is the place to follow of the live scoring updates and finals.
Follow the action get the most to date scores by tracking the SBLive South Carolina High School Football Scoreboard. We will have in-game score updates and all of the final scores from every corner of the state. You can also search for full schedules and complete scores from all of your very favorite teams.
Here’s a guide to following all of the South Carolina high school football this week.
STATEWIDE SOUTH CAROLINA FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD
CLASS 5A SCORES | CLASS 4A SCORES
CLASS 3A SCORES | CLASS 2A SCORES
CLASS 1A SCORES
SCISA CLASS AAAA | SCISA CLASS AAA
SCISA CLASS AA | SCISA A
2024 SOUTH CAROLINA FOOTBALL SCHEDULES: FIND YOUR TEAM
Can’t make it to your favorite team’s game but still want to watch them live? You can watch dozens of South Carolina high school football games live on the NFHS Network:
WATCH LIVE ON NFHS NETWORK
We also invite you to visit the brand new South Carolina homepage on High School on SI, powered by SBLive Sports, for the latest news, highlights, analysis, scores, photos and information on South Carolina high school sports. Follow our live game coverage and read our feature stories, breaking news, the latest recruiting news, rankings and much more.
Follow SBLive South Carolina throughout the 2024 high school football season for Live Updates, the most up to date Schedules & Scores and complete coverage from the preseason through the state championships!
Be sure to Bookmark High School on SI for all of the latest high school football news.
To get live updates on your phone – as well as follow your favorite teams and top games – you can download the SBLive Sports app: Download iPhone App | Download Android App
— Mitch Stephens | mitch@scorebooklive.com | @highschoolonsi
South-Carolina
ESPN's College Football Playoff Predictor has updated again. Here's where South Carolina stands
ESPN.com’s College Football Playoff predictor isn’t perfect because it applies analytics to a situation that ultimately will be decided by a committee of humans. But it does provide a nice guide and discussion piece about which teams have the best chance to make this year’s College Football Playoff.
Because of that human element, the predictor has been updating twice each week, once on Sunday to account for Saturday’s games and again after the latest CFP rankings are released.
[More for subscribers: What latest rankings mean for South Carolina’s College Football Playoff chances]
While the Gamecocks won their game on Saturday and got a lot of help from the teams around them last week, the logjam of SEC teams ahead of them in Tuesday’s rankings is still limiting their upside at this time.
With the committee putting South Carolina behind fellow three-loss SEC teams Alabama and Ole Miss, the predictor currently gives South Carolina a 20 percent chance of making the 12-team field, which is three percentage points lower than its chances in Sunday’s update.
The Gamecocks do, of course, have one more huge opportunity to pad their resume when they travel to Clemson this weekend to renew the annual rivalry in what may be the biggest game in the matchup’s history.
Beat the Tigers, who are currently No. 12 in the CFP Top 25, and South Carolina’s chances of making the playoff jump to 46 percent, according to the predictor.
While that’s just under a coin flip, it’s also 12 percentage points lower than it was in Sunday’s update.
South Carolina is still very much in the hunt but is going to need to win and play very well against Clemson and get more help around it.
[GamecockCentral: $1 for 7 days]
As a reminder, the CFP committee’s top 12 teams won’t correlate exactly with the 12-team field.
The CFP will consist of the top five highest-ranked conference champions and the next seven highest-ranked at-large schools. The top four conference champions will receive the top four seeds and a first-round bye. The fifth conference champion will be seeded by its CFP ranking. If that ranking is outside of the top 12 it will be seeded 12th as the final team in the field.
The teams seeded 5 through 12 will fight it out in the first round with the winners advancing to the quarterfinal round to face the top four seeds.
The Gamecocks and Tigers are set for a noon showdown Saturday in Clemson.
ESPN Analytics uses FPI to simulate the entire college football season 200,000 times. A committee model is applied to mimic College Football Playoff selections and seeding in order to generate a 12-team bracket for each simulation. The most likely CFP teams are provided for user selections. After user inputs, a likely bracket is generated and randomly simulated using FPI.
South Carolina football superfan Chris Paschal writes a weekly column during the season for GamecockCentral called “The Verdict.” Chris is a lawyer at Goings Law Firm in Columbia.
It will have been 44,592 days since Clemson students marched onto our campus with guns drawn when the Gamecocks take the field this Saturday in Death Valley. Back in 1902, Clemson students were mad because of a cartoon that depicted a Gamecock whipping a Tiger.
They marched on our campus, ready to cause bodily harm, over a cartoon. For 44,592 days, Clemson students, fans, coaches, players, and administrators have done everything but declare war on South Carolina to ensure they remain the superior football program in the state.
In 1902 there was more than just the cartoon. In 1902, Carolina beat Clemson.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution put it best following the game: the Clemson Tiger “was so successfully tamed this morning by Carolina. Its tail was twisted and twisted by the sturdy ‘pig skin pushers’ of Carolina, and after two hours and more of hard battle it gave up further fight, for time was called and it became as tame as the proverbial lamb.”
Carolina upset Clemson who at the time was led by John Heisman and was considered one of the great southern football powers. I think that too probably had a little something to do with the hostilities and hurt feelings coming from the Clemson students.
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For the 121st time this Saturday, it will be Carolina and Clemson playing a football game against each other. And while we are past the days of armed invasions, you can’t help but think this Saturday’s showdown may be the most consequential in the series’ history.
There have certainly been big matchups in years past. I am not discounting 1987. I am not overlooking 1979. I understand 2011-2013 featured some great teams. But this coming Saturday, both Clemson and Carolina will still be alive and in contention to bring home a national title.
The chances for both are not significant, but they are legitimate. For the first time in the entirety of the rivalry’s history, both Carolina and Clemson fans can hope that with a win over their hated rival they are one step closer to a playoff berth, which means one more step closer in the quest for a national championship.
Hopefully, the players donning the garnet and black won’t think similar thoughts as they run out onto the field for what should be a cold but sunny day. This game to the players needs to be about one thing: beating a team they are better than.
In continuing the list of firsts, for the first time in roughly a decade, South Carolina will have what I consider to be the better football team when they kick the ball off against Clemson. I think we have a better defense, I think we have a better offensive line, I think we have skill position players that are just as good as Clemson’s (if not better), and I think we have the better quarterback.
But that is what I think. I am an attorney. I am a fan. Clemson players won’t just roll over because I declared we have the better team. In fact, I expect this Dabo Swinney-led Clemson football team to fight like hell in an effort to keep their thumb still firmly on top of us.
Like Clemson fans, I think Clemson football players and coaches also think it is their birthright to beat the Gamecocks. And why shouldn’t they?
Clemson has won eight out of the last nine against Carolina. They have danced on our sidelines in the fourth quarter to Sandstorm, they have talked about how they think they will dominate us; they have talked about how we aren’t the real USC nor are we the real Carolina.
Underneath this façade of respect and admiration for this year’s Carolina team, Clemson fans (and I assume players) quietly assume 2024 will be just like most other recent years. They assume the moment will be too big, they assume the ghosts of years past will be too much, and they assume that by about 3:30 in the afternoon, Carolina will have once again not been physically or mentally strong enough to defeat Clemson.
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But I also think these assumptions, which often manifest themself in a holier-than-thou arrogance, stem from a small shred of doubt and fear that has crept into their minds. Carolina fans had no idea Clemson was passing the Gamecocks as a football program until it was too late. From 2009-2013, Carolina won five straight over Clemson. They assumed Clemson and their bumpkin coach were finally second fiddle to the Gamecocks. They ignored Clemson’s recruiting successes, they explained away Clemson’s double-digit win seasons as illegitimate due to being in the ACC, and they watched Clemson build a juggernaut that had passed Carolina in a very real and lasting way by 2014.
All it took was one whipping in 2014 for Carolina fans to realize that Clemson was now on a path that would destroy Gamecock hopes and dreams for many years to come. That feeling of “oh, crap” that Carolina fans felt in the few weeks leading up to the 2014 Clemson games, I wonder if Clemson fans are feeling that very same thing leading up to this Saturday’s game.
Maybe the thought of Carolina passing Clemson as a program hasn’t even crossed their minds. Maybe it is absurd that I would mention that in this column. Maybe by the final snap on Saturday, Clemson will have soundly defeated Carolina and made me and so many hopeful Gamecock fans look foolish.
Or maybe Harbor, Kennard, Stewart, Hemingway, Sanders, Knight, Emmanwori, Sellers, and so many other Gamecock stalwarts are capable of handling business and showing we do have the better team.
A win this weekend could be program defining. It at the very least could be season defining.
Is Shane Beamer and this Gamecock program always a bridesmaid but never the bride? Or is this team going to let this state and this nation understand that this is a new type of Gamecock football program?
We won’t know until Saturday, but I will be in Clemson cheering Carolina on, with the hope – the belief – that we will see that latter. Let’s tame the tiger once again into the proverbial lamb.
Forever to thee.
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