CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE STRUCK DOWN HIS OWN GRAND JURY …
The big story in South Carolina politics this week is circuit court judge Casey Manning’s hugely controversial decision to shut down a grand jury investigation into powerful S.C. Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell.
Missed that scoop? Here’s our exclusive report – as well as reaction from S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson, who is continuing in his efforts to hold Harrell accountable on a wide range of public corruption allegations.
One of the most bizarre components of Manning’s controversial ruling?
According to a judicial source familiar with the investigation, Manning was the judge who originally signed off (along with S.C. State Law Enforcement Division chief Mark Keel) on Wilson’s grand jury request back in January.
In other words the same judge who is now claiming there are no criminal allegations against Harrell previously ruled that criminal allegations against Harrell were sufficient to warrant a grand jury investigation.
Yeah … good luck explaining that one, judge.
Of course we all know the real explanation, don’t we?
61 comments
This is South Carolina! So it all makes sense.
Hope Alan keeps up the pressure.
Hope and a quarter will get you a cup of coffee. BTW, anything AG Wilson does at this point would be Contempt of Court.
No it’s not. He has appealed, which stays the order being appealed. Accordingly, the grand jury can continue during the pendency of the appeal.
You sound like the same legal advisors that got Wilson in to this mess, the grand jury can not legally continue. The law and the Order is very clear on this, if Wilson wants to continue to break the law, well then, he will pay the consequences
Bobby, shouldn’t you be planning your defense with your counsel?
I get to look you dead in the eye soon, boy. You will piss in your pants when I get done with you. Soon ~~~~~~~~
Anon your believe that an appeal of an adverse ruling constitutes contempt of court? Exactly how long was their training at your free online law school. Your AL MOST got your monies worth….
Was he seated under EEOC rulings?
Unfortunately, yes. Alan Wilson comes under the “dumbass whiteboy legacy” section of the affirmative action paragraph.
Casey Manning did what Jean Toal told him to do when she told him to do it. Pure and Simple. She probably did not know what Manning’s first order, but she damn well knew what she was doing when Judge Hood said he was getting himself dirty for her and took off. She got herself a judge to hear this who would do what she told him to do.
It doesn’t really matter at this point, Wilson had his day in Court and he lost, it’s over.
There’s an appellate process. No such thing as a “day” in court if you’ve got the money to pay for lawyers.
Are you talking about taxpayer $$$$dollars? Wilson can have another day in Court again, if he wants to, however, he’s just going to lose again. So why do it?
Maybe because the hearing will be pursued over by another, possibly rational, judge?
Maybe because it will cost Harrell, literally.
Next stop, the SC Supreme Court, they are going to SLAM the door on AG Wilson, maybe he will be able find a back door to exit out of very quickly.
Only, because Jean Toal is the tyrant over dumb as dirt Beattie, drug (prescription) muddled brain Kittridge and yeah, I’ll leave my husband for you George Hearn, Hearn.
You know, that is one of the few things I wouldn’t mind seeing our government waste taxpayers dollars on.
Seriously, in the scheme of waste, making Harrell uncomfortable and draining some of his campaign loot seems like a great way to spend taxpayer funds to me.
He will just have fundraisers to recoup his slush fund!
It’s not AG Wilson’s job to make people uncomfortable and illegally drain peoples money, that sounds more like extortion.
If Wilson doesn’t defer to the House Ethics Committee based on the Judge’s Order, then the “I” word is going rise to the surface, as in Incompetent. There is NO WAY Wilson can win on appeal, NO WAY, he knows it, everyone knows it. The kindergarten kids would be able to call this one, that’s what they call a no-brainer. Do the kindergarten math.
“It’s not AG Wilson’s job to make people uncomfortable and illegally drain peoples money, that sounds more like extortion.”
Yea, well, it’s not Speaker Harrell’s job to fly around in his plane on the taxpayer dime either, but everyone needs a hobby, right?
“There is NO WAY Wilson can win on appeal, NO WAY, he knows it, everyone knows it.”
Doesn’t matter, he could just be a ball buster. Then, he could get the Feds involved after softening up Harrell with money draining appeals so that it’s a mop up job.
That sounds like mafia legal tactics.
Just as Harrell said, Wilson is motivated by other means other than doing “what’s right”.
Manning is Toal’s and thereby Harrell’s ass wipe!
No spine, no courage, a good puppet!
Alan Wilson is a joke just like his Daddy. And that ain’t no lie!
I agree about the father. But the son keeps surprising me.
Neither are a joke, the daddy is just goofy.
Both are jokes – and the “just goofy” one embarrassed our state and made international news with his unprecedented and disgusting outburst at the State of the Union address.
How did he embarrass us, by telling the truth?
Well, he embarrassed me – and I am a native South
Carolinian. We have the first African-American POTUS giving the State of the Union address and we have a two-bit white congressman from South Carolina – a state with a terrible history of race relations – yelling out “you lie” and being totally disrespectful to the President in front of a prime-time nationwide television audience. Yes – that was embarrassing to me.
How can a half white guy be an “African-American”? Wouldn’t he be “Caucasian-African-American”? Or if he was labeled like George Zimmerman, he would be a “white-black” guy, right? By the way, SCDipshit, in case you haven’t noticed or bothered to pay attention the POTUS IS a liar. Many, many times over during his current 6-year reign of incompetence, impotence, ineffectiveness and malfeasance. THAT is embarassing to me.
Then stick with “he embarrassed me” cause the truth generally doesn’t bother “us”.
Well, I’ll stick with he embarrassed the state – which is what I originally posted. Perhaps you ought to practice what you preach and stick with “me” as well in regards to “the truth” as you see it.
He told the truth as has been proven repeatedly. But lying is okay if you are a Democrat….. and/or Jean Toal.
Joe Wilson was only stating/shouting a fact. He said what so many in the room were thinking.
Politico and Factcheck.org both say that Obama was telling the truth about illegal immigrants not being covered under the ACA. And “so many in the room” had the decency not to disrespect the President of the United States giving the State of the Union speech – does not matter what they were thinking.
Sorry – but the son has done nothing to surprise me. The nut does not fall far from the tree in my opinion.
I fucked your mom.
Sore loser, are ya Scooter?
No. Rand Paul is a lunatic like his racist daddy,Ron Paul.
That is why Rand is running around the country speaking to black universities and groups cause he knows daddy Ron is no different than Sterling in the NBA.Rand knows that MORE racist rants from KKK Ron are sure to appear cause Rand obviously grew up hearing this racist shit.
Was surprised FITS supports Ron Paul and posts articles from Robert Byrd Paul UNTIL I read the racist comments about Haley and Manning on this forum.
It all ‘fits’ now! :-)
SC AG ALAN WILSON’S GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION IS NULL AND VOID
“Judge to AG Wilson: Stop SLED and grand jury probe of House Speaker Harrell”
Circuit Judge Casey Manning ruled Monday that Attorney General Alan Wilson and SLED must stop their ongoing state grand jury criminal investigation of possible ethics violations by House Speaker Bobby Harrell.
Manning, in a five-page order, ruled that any action taken by Wilson’s grand jury to date “is null and void.” The grand jury has been operating since around January.
Manning also effectively disbanded the state grand jury that had been investigating Harrell and revoked a previous court order that had brought that body into being. He also ordered the state grand jury as well as any other investigative agency not to take “any further investigative action” concerning Harrell’s alleged ethics violations.
Manning said, and any action by the attorney general at this time is “premature.” …if the Ethics Committee referred ethics violations to the attorney general, the attorney general could then — and only then — begin a criminal investigation of Harrell.
“Any investigation by the state grand jury at this stage is illegitimate because the (Ethics) Act’s administrative remedies have not been exhausted,” …the Constitution mandating separation of powers among the three branches of government, gives the Legislature full authority over ethics investigations.
Manning’s decision also cited a 1994 State Supreme Court opinion, State v. Thrift, in which the high court held that legislative ethics act violations are civil, not criminal.
and thanks to that fiasco we have the roads that we have cocksucker.
Scooter, you should not drink and blog at the same time, you are slurring your words.
If appealed all the way to the SC Supreme Court, Harrell’s gonna have on hefty legal bill!
As long as his campaign fund has money in it, it won’t be a problem. It’ll just tap into his av-gas funds.
The taxpayer’s of South Carolina are paying millions on the Wilson side for his journey down Grand Jury lane and the upcoming appeal, if Wilson had any integrity at all, he would stop the madness and defer to the House Ethics Committee, as the Judge has ordered. He would then save the taxpayers $$$$Millions in legal fees and costs, but no, he is going to ram this little gravy train gig down everyone’s throat, create a big legal bill and then lose on appeal, sending the taxpayers the legal bill for his incompetence.
Sheeshus!!! This is a serious black eye to Manning. Get the documents on Manning. We will roast him just like Harrell. They want to play with the people of South Carolina? As surely as the sun rises each day, Harrell is finished and now so is Manning. Mark these words, we are coming to get you. And we will have your heads. There are tens of thousands of us assembling to take your all down and strip you of every fucking thing you own. YOU better believe it. Try to stop us. YOU can’t. We own you all now. And We The People of South Carolina are going to have your heads on a sliver platter. WORD!
ha ha , a black eye. ha ha.
Actually, Judge Manning made a very good ruling and spelled everything out in his Court Order, can’t you read Scooter?, Sheeshus!!! Read the Order, Wilson lost, it’s over. Wilson’s Grand Jury is Null and Void and the Order that created the Grand Jury in the first place has been revoked, Wilson has NOTHING! ….NOTHING! …….NOTHING! ….Wilson has NOTHING!….get over it and move on…..
Are you Harrell’s son? If not, are you on his payroll?
Judge Manning wrote in his decision that AG Wilson had not made the case that the allegations were worse than ethics violations. “Despite multiple requests, the Attorney General has failed to offer or present to the court any evidence or allegations which are criminal in nature,” Manning wrote.
Judge Manning’s order, which said that neither the grand jury “nor any other investigative agency shall take any further action” on the ethics-related allegations until the House Ethics Committee either decides on the case or refers the matter to the Attorney General.
“There is no investigation, there is no grand jury,” Harrell said. “The judge asked him repeatedly, ‘Tell me something that you’ve got.’ He (Alan Wilson) failed to come up with anything.
Back off, man, your blather is boring, adds little to the conversation, and litters FITSNEWS like trash at a city dump. Make your own website, get a life.
sounds very desperate too, like he’s afraid someone will accidentally stumble over the real crime.
Contempt of Court
“The attorney general has not yet filed an appeal. He may wait as long as he can so he can continue to defy Manning’s order to halt his investigation and not run the risk that the Supreme Court also would order him to stop.” …”Once Wilson files an appeal, he is under the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction.”
Contempt of Intelligence there, Scooter!
Creating a legislative committee does not remove or preempt the responsibility of the AG to enforce the law. Nor does it create immunity from law enforcement for the entire state legislature.
It was a stupid and inept ruling by someone not qualified to sit on the bench.
Hey Scooter, read the Judge’s ruling, you may learn something.
Looks like Casey Manning got a briefcase full of cash from Bobby Harrell.
Looks like you’re a moron.
SENATORS REACT
Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee, and an ethics committee member:
“I was surprised at the ruling and I don’t support the ruling. … I think this case rises to a higher level than a House or Senate ethics committee. It’s obviously moved on up.”
Senate President Pro Tempore John Courson, R-Richland, and a Senate ethics committee member:
“Criminal investigations cannot preclude a selected class. You cannot have two levels of citizenship as far as criminal investigations and activities. And the way this is going, that’s how this looks to me. … All citizens under the law should be treated equally. The General Assembly should not have a privileged position.”
Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, and a Senate ethics committee member:
“I don’t think the attorney general should have to wait on a referral from us to move forward. … I don’t know that anybody should be precluded from taking a case to the state grand jury just because it initiated itself out of an ethics complaint.” Ethics committees should handle smaller, more technical ethics issues, Hutto said.
Sen. Wes Hayes, R-York, and a Senate ethics committee member considered the ‘dean’ of ethics:
Manning’s ruling suggests all cases against legislators must go through the House and Senate ethics committees before the attorney general can investigate, Hayes said. “That’s not what the law says or that’s not our intent. That would not apply to the judiciary or the legislative branch or any constitutional (offices). … The attorney general can and should, when the law has been broken, be able to prosecute anyone in the state. No one is above the law.”
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/05/13/3444117/wilson-to-defy-judge-keep-harrell.html?sp=/99/205/&ihp=1#storylink=cpy