Smarting from his defeat in a Beaufort County, South Carolina courtroom earlier this week, special prosecutor David Pascoe is reportedly preparing an appeal of the disputed plea deal that allowed former state representative Rick Quinn to avoid jail time in connection with the ongoing #ProbeGate investigation.
When will Pascoe’s appeal be filed? What information will it contain?
And most importantly … will it be successful?
Who knows … but in the meantime Quinn is pushing back at Pascoe, calling the S.C. first circuit solicitor “a liar” in his first public comments since the episode.
Two months ago, Quinn pleaded guilty to one count of misconduct in office – part of an agreement that resulted in charges being dropped against his influential father, veteran “Republican” political strategist Richard Quinn.
The deal – a huge gamble for Pascoe – was sold to S.C. circuit court judge Carmen Mullen on the basis of testimony the elder Quinn was supposed to provide to a statewide grand jury in January. In fact, Pascoe said at the time that prosecutors were going to “learn a lot” from Quinn’s forthcoming testimony. Not only that, he threatened to charge the alleged ringleader of an expansive pay-to-play political syndicate with perjury and obstruction of justice if he failed to testify truthfully before the grand jury.
Two moths later, though, the elder Quinn has yet to be summoned …
What gives? Good question …
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[/timed-content-server]Sources close to the grand jury process tell us Pascoe had time allotted to him in January to question the elder Quinn or other witnesses before the statewide star chamber – but declined to do so.
Now we are halfway through the month of February and as of this writing, Pascoe has made no move to summon Quinn.
Will he? If so, when?
And most importantly … what will be the focus of this long-awaited testimony?
The clock is ticking … and the stakes are officially higher than ever.
Pascoe seems unlikely to move on the elder Quinn this month with an appeal looming in relation to the younger Quinn’s plea. And next month Pascoe will be busy taking suspended state senator John Courson to trial on a variety of charges related to #ProbeGate.
That gives him just three more bites at the apple before the term of the current grand jury expires in June.
Talk about pressure …
This news site has resisted the urge to assail Pascoe too vociferously for his failure to land either of the Quinns behind bars in connection with this ongoing probe. We believe it represents the first major misstep in his management of this investigation, but we’re continuing to trust that he knows what he’s doing and can bring #ProbeGate to a successful resolution.
At some point, though, the phrase “put up or shut up” comes to mind … and the longer Pascoe waits to “put up,” the bolder his critics will undoubtedly become.
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