Welcome to the magistrate courts of South Carolina, where politicians stocked the bench with judges who aren't lawyers and who have less training than the state's barbers or masseuses. Scores of them misapplied the law or abused the bench.
Clemon Stocker was a barber and BBQ shop owner. As magistrate, he helped spring a relative from jail on assault charges. Five days later, the man murdered his wife. "I won't be able to do anything to him," said the victim's mother. "But I know God will work it out."
Judge Rebecca Adams is also not a lawyer. She's accused of blocking Sasha Darby's rights to counsel, before convicting her. Darby spent 20 days in jail while pregnant. She lost the baby. "If I hadn't been jailed ... I've always had that wonder," she said, through tears.
Arthur Bryngelson, a former construction worker, traded his hard hat for a robe. He flubbed basic elements of trials and rejected a restraining order against a cop because it would have had a "harmful effect" on the officer's career. "I didn't know any better," the judge said.
The misconduct results from a system unlike any in the country, where politicians hand pick judges by themselves with no oversight. It's provided fertile ground for incompetence and corruption, a six-month @postandcourier/@propublica investigation found: postandcourier.com/news/these-sc-…
