|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
As he embarks on an effort to reform South Carolina’s badly broken system of “justice,” South Carolina attorney general Alan Wilson paid a visit to our studios last week.
The Palmetto State’s top prosecutor sat down with our founding editor Will Folks days after unveiling his judicial reform proposals at a meeting with state legislators in Charleston, S.C. During their conversation, Wilson detailed tweaks to a legislatively controlled judicial selection panel which he hopes can correct an “imbalance” in the current system.
“I want the judicial branch to have an equal check on the power I that have,” Wilson said. “I want them to have an equal check on the power of the legislature, But we don’t have an equal check on the legislature, and we certainly don’t have an equal check on the judiciary.”
His proposed solution? Moving the state more toward the federal model – namely by altering the composition of that legislatively controlled S.C. Judicial Merit Selection Commission (SCJMSC).
***
Wilson also talked at length about the recent extra-legal release (and eventual re-apprehension) of convicted killer/ gang leader Jeroid J. Price – a case study in the lack of accountability inherent in the current system.
Price, our audience will recall, was illegally and unconstitutionally released from the custody of the S.C. Department of Corrections (SCDC) in March with more than fifteen years remaining on his “mandatory minimum” sentence. No one knew about this miscarriage of justice, though, until a month later when our news outlet filed this report.
Wilson said Price’s release failed the family of Price’s murder victim, former University of North Carolina football player Carl Smalls.
“The system failed the Smalls’ family and let a murderer out sixteen years earlier,” Wilson said. “Had the law been followed, that person would have never been released.
According to the attorney general, the Price case, “feed(s) into the mistrust and the distrust that an increasing number of people are coming to me about when it comes to how we elect judges in South Carolina and their relationship with the legislative branch of government.”
Finally, Wilson shared some thoughts on the recently concluded double homicide trial of convicted killer Alex Murdaugh – which was managed by his office and in which he personally played a key role.
Check out the full interview here …
***
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.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to proactively address? We have an open microphone policy here at FITSNews! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
1 comment
You should have asked this filthy fascist why he thinks he has the right to subpoena medical records of women who travel outside the state to obtain an abortion.