State Trooper Suggests Senator Had Upper Hand in Numerous DUI Court Cases

Early this week, the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) launched an internal investigation into the circumstances surrounding seven DUI plea bargains which took place between Lance Corporal (Cpl.) David Smith and South Carolina State Senator Brad Hutto. The investigation was initiated after a Highway Patrol officer wrote to his superiors stating that he felt that the DUI cases handled last year by Lance Cpl. David Smith were handled improperly. While the investigation of Lance Cpl. Smith is still ongoing, exploration into the potentially improper working relationship between Senator Hutto and Magistrate Willie Robinson, who is assigned to many of the Senator's cases, has also initiated a SLED review.

Since the outset of the investigation, Lance Cpl. Smith has stated that he felt he was placed in a disadvantaged position prosecuting his DUI cases against Senator Hutto, who was acting as defense counsel in Magistrate Willie Robinson's court. In South Carolina, state troopers used to be responsible for the prosecution of DUI offenders in court. Beginning this year, the job was reassigned to prosecutors in the local superior court.

Lance Cpl. Smith also filed a report to SLED stating that in the DUI cases he was involved in with Senator Hutto, "Brad [appointed] the judge, [made] the motion, and the judge [agreed]". This quote sheds light on the South Carolina justice system, where magistrates are essentially appointed to their positions by local senators. The senators make their recommendations for the judgeship to the governor, who in turn seeks confirmation from the entire Senate body.

In some cases, term limits are disregarded by the magistrates and senators. The magistrate's disregard of the mandated term limits is known as "holdover" status. Critics of this practice have stated that a magistrate's "holdover" status makes them incredibly vulnerable to a senator's demands because the magistrate wishes to stay in office as long as possible.

In response to these allegations, Senator Hutto and Magistrate Willie Robinson have stated that Senator Hutto received no preferential treatment in court. However, SLED has uncovered evidence indicating that the DUI cases that were reviewed during the investigation were all tried in Magistrate Robinson's court as bench trials, with Senator Hutto acting as defense counsel, and that all of those cases resulted in "not guilty" verdicts.

After this evidence was revealed, Robinson argued that the records were completed incorrectly, because in fact, no bench trials actually took place for the cases being investigated and any cases that were reduced to lesser charges were done as a result of plea bargains drawn up between Hutto and Smith.

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